The Fall
by NixxyNoxxy
Summary: Everything has fallen. It is now survival of the fittest. The weak now wage a war against the strong. All Sakura and Sai can do is run and try to find any remaining survivors. *Warning this will be a pretty graphic tale. Character death, blood, guts, gore and all that stuff*
1. Chapter 1

This was not how it was meant to be. There was nothing about this that fit in her plans at all. At twenty four she should be enjoying her life, going out to the bar with friends, possibly enjoying being the head of the hospital, taking missions here and there, and perhaps finding some one to settle down with and thinking of having children. None of that was possible now. Not since the fall, not since the world turned upside down. Everything that she had worked so hard for evaporated in the course of a few weeks, what EVERYONE had worked hard for was gone. She should not be sitting in a cave with Sai, hiding, scavagening just to live, but that is exactly what her life was.

Sakura sighed to herself as she cut the leg meat of the deer into strips. She dropped the slices into the pot of salt before continuing the butchering process. "Do you want to get a fire going? We might as well cook some of the meat while it's fresh," she looked over to Sai who was working on his quarter of the deer. He looked up at her, his eyes flat and lifeless and nodded. She fought the frown that wanted to show on her face, she should be use to that look by now. They have been together in this for... Four? maybe Five years. Though she just hoped to see something in them, a flicker of life that showed something, anything. It didn't matter if it was anger, frustraion, sadness, just some type of fucking emotion would be nice. Maybe that was too much to ask for. What right did she have to want him to show something? It was just a selfish want to have some type of normal human contact. If this is how he handled it, then it is what it is. "Oh, and be sure to put the fat aside. We are low on salves." She mumbled as she turned her attenton back to the muscles of the leg.

"There isn't that much. This was a young buck, he was pretty lean," he grunted as he stood, rubbing his hand over his right thigh. She looked up and watched as he kneeded the muscle in his thigh. There was a time when she would have scoulded anyone that would have done that. Smearing the deer blood on his pants, it was unsantiary. Though, that was the world that they lived in now, unsanitary. There was no longer soap for washing hands constantly, and any alcohol they came across they would rather drink it away. No it was not the fact that he was filthy that was bothering her, it was the fact that he was in pain.

"Do you need me to make adjustments?" She quirked a brow as she looked up into his stoic face. He looked at her for a moment, still nothing showing on his face, and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. It just aches when there is a storm coming. I'll just chew on some willow bark when I take the prostetic off," He robotically said as he walked to the wood stash and pulled some over to the pit. Sakura followed him with a lazy gaze but nodded at him when he looked over at her. She couldn't help her eyes lowering down to his lower leg. It was a simple wooden prostetic, almost primative. She had created it quickly but had since offered to make a new one or make adjustments with the springs they had scavanged over the years. He always refused and if he didn't sleep so lightly she would have done it while he was slumbered. She had tried once and wound up with a kunia to the neck. After that she mearly began to build an extra one when she had free time, which there honestly wasn't alot of. She sighed and continued on with her task.

She never though that she would ever end up with Sai. Not that she wasn't happy that he was there, she was greatful that he was around. Even if most of the time he was no better then a walking rock. Atleast she had some one. That, and they worked well together. Having lost the lower part of his leg had slowed him down a little, but he worked for their survival just as hard as she did. Sometimes it seemed that he was working for her survival more them anything.

"I think that I need to get my haircut again. How about you?" She asked as she blew a stray piece of hair out her face. Sia looked at her and cocked his head.

"No, I am not bothered with the current length. If you want yours cut, you will have to wait until we find a clean pond or stream. I don't like cutting filthy hair," He said as he looked at her. She just hummed at him. He didn't mean to mean anything mean by his comment. They were both filthy and grimy, it had been a week or so since either of them had a proper wash, and it far longer since they had ran out of soap. She would need to use some of the fat to make some.

They finished with the break down, putting the meat in the curing jars, the fat simmering down and the skin being salted. They wordlessly moved their attention to cooking the remainder of the meat for the evening. She smiled at Sai as he just stared blankly at her.

"Go ahead and rest. I got dinner," He nodded at her than turned and slid down the wall of the cave to sit down. She tried not to watch as he removed his leg and rubbed the knob of the stump. Instead she busied herself with skewering the meat and placing it over the flame. She sat down on the otherside of the cave finally letting herself look at him. He sat staring at the floor, worring his hands on his lap. She watched as the light of the flames licked his pale skin casting deep shadows on his lowered brow, making the dark lines that he placed on his cheeks under his eyes vanish and reappear. She tore her gaze off of him and began to remove her makeshift armor. Slowly she detatched Kakashi's cracked ANBU mask from her shoulder. She gingerly placed it on the stone floor next to her. Next she moved to the three hiate that she wore on her left biscep under the mask, placing them with as much care next to the mask. She pushed her pile of treasures to the side as she pulled off the belt that was made of human vertibres. That piece she had little love for. It was just for show anyways. Before throwing it to the side she untied the small frog purse that hung from it. She sat and stared at the worn green letting her fingers gently stroke the soft material.

"I don't see why you keep that junk," Sai drawled as he watched her. Her eyes snapped to the boy, no man, as she scowled. There he sat with his sketch book in his lap. A book that he had long ago filled. Now all he did was stare at it every night. Occassionaly his fingers would trace the lines of whatever dipiction was on the page.

"I keep it for the same reason you keep that," She snapped as she pointed to the book in his lap. The moment the words left her mouth she regretted them. The only time Sai would get snarky was when he was in pain. This was his way of showing his discomfort. She ususally would let it pass, but she couldn't stop herself this time. His eyes grew wide for a moment before he schooled his expression and let his attention drift back to the sketchbook. She knew why he kept that one. There was a reason that it was the one thing that he refused loose.

She watched as his once vacant expression dropped in to sorrow. That was the one emotion he displayed everyday. Though it was never directed to her, it was always when he was looking at his book. His book that was filled with pictures of Ino. Ino sleeping, laughing, smiling, staring off in the distance, her looking sexy, her just waking up. Sai had drew her in every light. Sometimes when he looked at it she wanted to scream at him. Tell him that she knew her first. She was her best friend. She lost her too. But, it was different for him and she knew it. Ino was not carrying her child. Ino had not pledged her heart to her. Ino didn't give her a glimpse of true happiness. Sure she had lost everything also. She lost her friends, her family and her village, but atleast she had grown up with all that. For nineteen years she had known love, and true connections with people. Sai. Well, he had only a glimpse. He and Ino were together for two years. During those two years, Sakura had never seen him so happy. He became social, he took an interest in forming relationships and worked harder to understand people. He was vastly different from the boy that was assigned to her team. The moment Ino had fallen, Sai lost everything. After he had reverted to being emotionless. Well, it probably didn't help that he was stuck with the one that killed her either.

"Sorry," She mumbled as she walked to the fire to flip the meat. He didn't make a sound or looked to her for acknologment, not that she expected him to. Her mouth pulled into a tight line as she checked their meal.

"I think we should get moving once the meat has dried," She said as she tended the fire. Sai grunted as he carefully turned the page of his book. "I know that it would be nice to stay around here. I mean, we haven't seen any reapers or raiders, but if we want to get to Iron before winter we will need to leave soon. Otherwise we will need to find clothes or make them," She shrugged as she looked up at him. He furrowed his brow for a moment before looking up at her.

"We should stop." He clipped. Sakura stilled at his comment and looked at him with a raised brow.

"What?" She asked carefully. "You can't mean..."

"Yes, I do mean stop. Stop looking, stop wandering, stop this life. Find somewere to settle and set up something that represents some type of life, not just surviving," His word were still flat, and his face showed no emotion. Sakura stood and looked down at him with her brows drawn and a deep frown on her lips.

"How?" Her voice shook. "How do you expect us to do that? The only quazi settlment are with the raiders, and you know how pleasent they can be," She inhaled deeply as she looked at him. What he wanted was not an option. Not now. Even if that was, how could he just give up? There were others out there. There had to be. They just had to keep looking. Even if they couldn't find them, there were other things that they... that she, needed to take care of.

"No. I would not join with raiders," He sighed as he looked back down to the book. "Sakura, it has been five years, maybe more maybe less, but we have not found anyone. Not one friendly person in all this time. It was four winters ago that we lost Yamato. We are all that is left," Slowly he closed his eyes and leaned his head against the stone wall. "I am tired. I am so tired," his voice had lost the bored tone as it took on one of exhaustion. He may have been growing weary, but his words had ignited anger that she could feel down to her bones.

"I will not give up. We have not looked everywere. We can't be the last ones. We can't," she growled out with a trembling voice as she felt tears burning her eyes. Sai opened his eyes and stared at her. They stayed frozen in thier position for what felt like hours. Finally he broke the staring contest by looking away.

"A year," He drawled. "A year is all I have left." She bit her lip as she looked down at him. Should she push him? Does she have the right? She had took the option of death away from him once, could she take away what he called a life?

"Sai..."

"Do you feel that?" Sai asked as he straightened his body. Her muscles immediatly coiled at the question. Her skin pricked as he hair began to stand on end. She felt her surroundings, being careful to keep her chakra tightly bound in her body. She quickly pivoted her body to the enterance of the cave. Her eyes flicked to Sai, he looked to her as he began to reattatch his prostetic.

There was someone there. Was it reaper or raider? The one thing that she knew for sure was that she was not leaving this cave. No, fuck that. They had just bagged a deer and they were not going to lose all that meat. She would fight whoever was out there, hopefully it was a raider. She really didn't want to deal with a chakra user. Not when she couldn't release her own. She grimaced as she got another reading from the stranger. Damn it they were leaking chakra, though it didn't feel like the erratic spiking of a reaper. It felt controlled, a slow and steady stream. It was either an evolved reaper, or a foolish traitor who was working with the raiders. Though, how was that possible? How could they just let it out and not attract the reapers? Sai looked at her with a furrowed brow.

"I can't tell if it is a reaper," She hissed as she looked at him. He looked as confused as she was.

"But, you feel it?" He whispered. She nodded at him then looked back to the entrance. Who ever it was that was out there seemed to be slowing and moving back and forward close to the entance, but not close enough to see it. No, no way this was a reaper, it would would have been destroying everything around them to find them. This showed control and intelligence. Though if they kept leaking out chakra like that they were going to draw all the reapers within twenty miles, but if they fought them it would draw them in faster. Damn it, they couldn't just leave them out there.

"They can either sense us or they smell the food," Sai said as he stood next to her tossing her a tanto. She grasped in mid air.

"We can't leave them out there," She frowned as she unsheathed the short blade. Before she could step forward she felt the presence take a sharp turn to the entrance.

"Seems like they found us," Sai said as he also brought his blade up. They stood shoulder to shoulder, muscles coiled as they prepared themselves for the invaders.

"Fancy finding people out here," A deep voice drawled at the entrance of the cave. The sound causing both to lower themselves down into a defensive stance. A low chuckled echoed on the stone walls. "Now, now. I thought that we made it crystal clear that your kind is not welcome in this territory." The sharp sounds of shoes hitting the ground made them raise their blades.

"And what kind is that?" Sakura growled. Sai shot her a glare she just shook her head and shrugged.

"What kind? Really? Raiders. Raiders are not allowed in these parts, you understand." There was a soft whizzing sound that made both dart to the side. A sharp sound of metal hitting rock made both turn to see a senbon lodged in the wall. Sakura's eye widened at the action. Who was this?

"We aren't raiders," Sai said as he turned back to the voice. He looked at Sakura and nodding his head in the direction of the enterance. She nodded to him then silently made her way to wall of the cave. More footsteps fell as who ever it was chuckled again.

"Sure you arn't. I would say the same if I was one of them, I mean I know you all don't like to tangle with us," Sakura frowned as she listened as he came closer. Just a few more steps. "So I will tell you what is going to happen, you will leave here and leave what ever you took from this land. No harm no foul. You get to leave and we get what you took from us." There! Sakura darted out to the enterance of the cave. She shoulder checked the man, using a minimal amount of chakra as she made contact. The man made an oomph sound as he hit the side of the cave hard. Sakura quickly landed a jab to the stomach, causing him to double over. Before she could land another hit, she felt a sharp pinch at the nape of her neck. She cursed as she lost feeling to her arms. She pushed him back with her foot to his chest, grateful as Sai grabbed the mans wrist and placed a chakra restrant cuff on him.

"What the fuck?" The man howled as he pulled his arm into his body. Sakura smirked as her partner quickly placed the other cuff. Hopefully that will keep the reapers away. "Not fucking raiders huh, then why the hell do you have chakra cuffs?" He spat as he grabbed onto her ankle. It was dim in the enterance and the shadows concealed most of the mans face and probably hers too, so the scowl she had wore had no effect.

"We are not raiders," she growled. "As for the chakra cuffs, well we use them for assholes like you who sit there and leak their chakra about. Hell, that is a fucking calling card to any reapers." She pushed her foot into the mans chest to offset the his attempt to push her foor away. The pressure in her neck began to evaporate as she felt Sai pull the senbon from her skin. She rolled her shoulder as a tingling senation ran down her arms. This man had to be some type of shinobi. Civilians would not know where to jab a senbon to cause muscle failure. She sure as hell never came across a raider that could do that.

"Reapers? There haven't been any reapers in this part for nearly six months." The man snorted. Sakura frowned, there was no such a land. Yeah, there hadn't been any reapers here but they were always around.

"Lair," Sai spat. That had Sakura raise her brow. It had been a long time since she had heard anger in the mans voice and the tone sent a jolt through her spine. "There are no safe zones. Get rid of him Sakura." He growled next to her. Her brows knitted further down at the statment as the man she had pinned against the wall gasped. No, that was not how they were. They did not just kill because they felt like it, they were not raiders. She was drawn from her inner conflict when she felt the chest heave a bit under her foot. A cough errupted from the man.

"Sakura, you say," he coughed. "I wonder if you are a pretty as your name." She stiffened at the line and her eyes narrowed at the shadow formed man in front of her. Before she could even think what she was doing she quickly dropped her foot grabbing onto the mans shirt then threw him deeper into the cave,

"Who are you?" She growled as she walked to the man, who was laying on the ground, his hair covering his face. She glanced at Sai who was watching her with a raised brow. "Tell me. What is your name?" She said as she stomped forward to the man and put the toe of her boots onto his shoulder, pushing him over to reveal his face. The moment she saw his face her eyes went wide.

"Sai..." She took a step back. "Sai please tell me when didn't eat the berries that cause hallucinations," She said weakly as she looked over at the stoic man, only to find that his face was had emotion after emotion flickering across it. His eyes slowly went to hers as a smile spread on his lips. No, it was not a fake smile, no the euphoria that he felt could easily be seen.

"No hag," He laughed. Sakura couldn't help the tears that began to fall. Oh god did she hate that name, but it felt soo good to hear it again. "We are not imagining this." Her body moved before she could think and she ran forward and pulled Sai to her. His arms immediatly wrapped around her and tightened with as much ferocity as she gave.

"Wait.. Sakura. Haruno Sakura." The man next to the fire coughed.

"Yeah Genma. Sakura and Sai." She said as she released Sai.

"Holy shit. We all thought that there was no one left. We thought that you died," Gemna said as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

"We?" Sai asked eagerly.

"Yeah, we. There is a whole settlement," He grinned as he stook up. "Now can you get these off, they are really annoying." He said as he lifted his hand. Sai nodded and walked quickly over to the senbon user and took the restraints off. Genma took a step back as he let his eyes roam over the two of them. His intense gaze caused Sakura to fidget. She wondered just how she looked to the man, because besides missing his haiti and a few small wrinkles at the corner of his eyes he looked just the same. Them, on the other hand, had to look drastically different. Dirty, tattooed, scared, dressed in what was mostly rags, they had to be a sight.

"What's taking so long?" A different voice echoed into the cave. "Having problems clearing out the rodents?" Sakura looked at Genma wide eyes as he smirked at the voice.

"Na, there isn't a problem here. Actually why don't you come on in Shikamaru," Genma yelled. She didn't know what was happening, her legs were beggining to feel weak as she struggled for breath. Shikamaru. Was it really him? Foot steps echoed in the cave as Shikamaru appeared out of the shadows. He looked so much like his father now. She watched as he stopped and his eyes grew wide as he looked between Sakura and Sai. She couldn't reign it in any longer. A sob excaped her throat as she looked at her long lost friend. She jumped as she heard a cry leave Sai. She turned to look at him and saw his cheeks and eyes glistening from the tears he began to shed. Not taking her eyes off of him she fell to her knees as loud sobs filled the cave.

She didn't know how long both of them cried. She was sure that they had to look crazy, but neither of them could help it. For five, or so, years they had been fighting tooth and nail searching for anyone who was left. Now two people from their village just come walk into their cave. It was like like a dream and she was terrified that she was going to wake up. She had touched every inch of both mens faces to make sure that they were solid and in front of her. After Sai had his break down he just sat against the wall, his eye wide with wonder. He kept his eyes trained on the two men never taking them off of them.

Sakura took a deep attempting regain her composure and stood up. Shikamaru and Genma were looking at them with wary eyes. She didn't know if they were worried about them, or perhaps they worried them. It would make sense. After five years she didn't know if she knew how to act around people that were not Sai.

"OK, you guys good now?" Genma chuckled as he pulled his senbon from the wall and placed it in his mouth and let it flick from side to side. She let out another sob laugh and nodded at the man.

"I thought there was no one left." Sai said as he regained his composure. "I thought I would forever be stuck with Hag, running from raiders." He laughed and Sakura let her smile widen. It wasn't a loud laugh like Naruto had, but it was music to her ears.

"Running from raiders, huh?" Shikamaru drawled as he raised a brow. "Why would you worry about them? The reapers I could get, but the raiders.." He ran a hand over his chin. Sakura frowned at that. Yeah with the reapers there were complications, they used chakra and it was like they didn't have pain receptors, but the raiders were by far a bigger and more dangerous beast. Sure, if there was only a few they were easy enough to deal with, it was when they moved in mobs is were their power laid. She looked over to Sai to see the same look of confustion on his face.

"We can talk about all this later. Lets get the two of you packed. It's nearly a four hour trek back to base, we should get going ASAP," Genma said flicking his wrist dismissing the previous conversation.

"Wait, you want to leave now? During the night?" Sakura stiffened as she looked at the senbon wielder. He looked as her wearly and nodded his head.

"Yeah, we have been out here for three days. I just want to get back and sleep in my bed." He said slowly.

"But it is night." Sai said slowly back.

"It's not safe to travel at night. That is when the reapers are the most active," She swallowed thickly trying to cover the panic that she was feeling. That was one of the first rules they learned in this new world, never travel at night. Find shelter and hide until the sun came up.

"Kiddo I wasn't lying when I said that there haven't been reapers here in a while. We also keep the raiders off the land. That's what we are doing out here, patrol. You two are the first people we have come across this time out." Genma sighed as he leaned against the wall. "I mean, don't get me wrong. Sure this place could be thought of as... cozy. Though I hate to break it to you, it reeks in here. I am sure that both of you would benefit from a shower," He smiled then winked at her. She frowned at him. Yeah, she would be willing to name her first born after him for a REAL shower, but he didn't have to bring up the fact that they smelled. They both knew that. They were covered in dirt, sweat, and blood. It was not a signature scent that she enjoyed. She looked over to Sai who leaned against the wall and took a seat.

"Even if it is safe, there is no way that I would be able to make it tonight," He frowned and looked to the ground.

"Why are you injured?" Shikamaru sighed as he leaned against the wall.

"Yes." Sai hung his head down further.

"No, he isn't. His leg just hurts, we did a lot of traveling and then hunted. He needs time to rest." Sakura growled at Sai. Damn him if he was going to throw a pity party. He was strong even with out his leg. Sai just sighed and proceeded to remove his prostetic.

"Ah I see," Genma said as he looked down at Sai then turned to Shikamaru. "You know how Habani gets, we'll give them time to rest before we move out." Sakura sharply inhaled as her whole body stiffened.

"Hanabi? Who else? Who else is there?" She couldn't help the shock that flickered through her voice. Genma just smiled lazily at her.

"Well now, that would ruin the surprise. Would it not?" The man winked at her. She fought the annoyance that ran through her veins. Suprise? Really she didn't need any more surpises, no the past five years had been filled with those. She could feel her eye twitched as she looked between the smirking males.

"Hanabi... She lost her leg?" Sai asked softly. The question wiped the smirks from the two's faces. Both averted their gazes from the long lost shinobi.

"Yeah, she lost both her legs and most of her fingers on her right hand," Shikamaru sighed as he took a seat against the wall. Closing his eyes he leaned his head against the cool stone. Both Sakura and Sai's mouth dropped open as they gawked at the shadow user. Slowly he cracked open his eyes and looked at Sai then his prostetic. "Though I have to admit that your leg is superiour to the ones that she has." Sai looked down at the prostetic and frowned a bit.

"Yeah, none of us really knew how to make a proper one. That is one thing that people are going to be rather excited for, having a proper medic. We have some nurses amongst us, but no one in your league," Genma said as he took a seat. "Even with the fake legs she has a hard time keeping up," He shrugged.

"If the prostetics are not properly fitted they can cause pain. I know that Sai's need some work to them still.." She frowened as she looked away from the men. She hated that he was in pain and wouldn't let her do anything about it.

"Well, the two of you rest up. We leave at first light." Shikamaru drawled. "Mind if I have some? We haven't eaten since yesterday," he pointed to the fire with the skewers of meat. Sakura just nodded as she sat and leaned against the cool wall. Food was the last thing that she wanted to think about. Her nerves were officially shot and her emotions kept simmering then boiling. Life was going to change. They were no longer alone, there were survivors. Sure, she had gone on and on about it to Sai that they would find them but deep within her soul, as the days passed, her hope was fading. She had told him, and herself, to have faith because what else was she to do? If there was no one left in this new world, just them, then they might as well lay down and die. She shook her head and looked back to the two old strangers. It was all in the past, there was no need to dwell on those thoughts. Slowly she closed her eyes and tried to will herself to sleep.

The night passed with fitful sleep. When Sakura felt herself drifting to sleep she would jolt awake to make sure that Genma and Shikamaru were still there, and that she wasn't dreaming them up. So once the sun began to rise she didn't feel rested at all. She stiffly moved around the cave gathering their meagre belongings.

"Don't!" She nearly ran over to Genma who was beginning to release a travel scroll. Before she could reach him the parchment was already open and he was looking at her with knit brows. The ever present sebon falling from his lips.

"What?" He asked stunned as she grabbed it from his hands swiftly.

"Damn it! You can't use chakra. Where the hell have you all been?" She growled at him. The look of shock was still plastered on his face as he watched the almost feral glint that was in her eye.

"Sakura," He said slowly stooping down to pick up his sebon. "I told you there are no reapers around here. We would know. You can use your chakra here without a problem." She flinched as he reached out to grab onto her shoulder. He paused just as he was about to touch her passing his tongue over his dry lips before frowning deeply.

"What the hell have you two been through?" He asked quitely. She glared at him but before she could respond Sai spoke up.

"Exactly," Sai said as he finished attaching his legs. "We have been through hell."

 **ok, this isn't going to really update regularly.. that is until one of my other stories reached completion. I will warn that this is going to be gritty, traumatic, and graphic. I really wanted an apocalyptic story that wasn't because Madara had won or Sasuke went nuts. I am aiming for Mad Max meets 28 Days. I really wanted something that I could write when I was in a bad mood and could go all Martin with the characters. That being said, no one is safe. There will be massive character deaths. So if it's not your cup of tea just go ahead and pass on this one.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Warning things get a bit graphic..**

Roughly five years prior:

Sakura smiled to herself as she walked the well-worn path that leads to Konoha. It was a relief to be going home as always. She pulled the oversized green sweater around her as the breeze began to push the last remnants of winter past her skin. She was delighted to be going home right as spring was coming. It was always a beautiful time in her village.

She turned her head to see Sai walking next to her with the smirk that had not left his face in months. She smiled widely at him as she pushed her shoulder into his. "Happy to be going home?" He turned his head to her, the smirk sliding easily into a grin.

"We have been gone for over a month. I can't help but miss Ino-chan. I am also very eager to see how big her belly has grown," he said happily. Sakura let out a small laugh and just smiled back at him.

"Well... she is in the middle of her seventh month, so I am betting that she looks like she has a big old ball stuck under her shirt," she said as mimicked a large belly. "I am sure she looks beautiful as ever," she sighed. Ino was pretty, to begin with, but pregnancy really seemed to suit her. Sakura could only hope that she would look one tenth as good as Ino when she was pregnant. She let out a sigh, probably not, though. More than likely she was going to be one of those women that bloated horribly and always had an unattractive pink hue to her skin.

"Ino is always beautiful," Sai sang out.

"And you better tell her that when she is pushing out that baby, got it? I don't care how sweaty or smelly, or verbally abusive she is at the time. You tell her how gorgeous she looks," Sakura said sternly. Sai slowed down his pace as his brows drew down.

"But..."

"Oh no, absolutely no buts here. Don't say anything stupid. Otherwise, I'll come and pummel you. Understood?" She asked as she looked back over her shoulder at him. He was still walking slowly behind her, but his eyes were wide as he looked at her.

"Yes, understood," he nodded as he jogged to catch up with her. She smiled and nodded. They walked a few minutes more in comfortable silence before she turned to him.

"You know, you are going to make a really great father Sai," she smiled at him. That was the truth. The mission that they were just coming off of was to aid in an epidemic in Mist. There was a severe respiratory infection that had spread through many of the children. Sai had originally just been sent as her partner to keep an eye out for foul play, but from the first day he really took to the children. He would keep trying to entertain them with his animated drawings, keeping their mind off of the pain and discomfort that they were in. Sakura looked over to him to see a slight frown on his face.

"Sometimes I am unsure. I didn't have a family growing up, so I don't know how a father is supposed to act," he said slowly. Sakura smiled as she shook her head and jabbed a finger into his side.

"Seriously, you'll do great. You were awesome with those kids. Plus, you'll have all of us to help out. That baby is going to have so many happy and loving aunts and uncles. Don't you worry about it," she smiled at him.

He turned his head a small smile playing on his lips. "Thank you, Ugly."

Minus the stupid nicknames, the rest of the walk to Konoha was nice and uneventful, which was just what Sakura wanted. There was nothing worse than being so close to home to have some idiot thieves try something stupid.

They walked in through the large gates of the village as Sakura looked to the guard post to find it empty. She knitted her brow, slowing her pace. She considered the abnormal situation. There was always at least one shinobi at the gate at all times. She wondered if a squad just came in with heavy injuries. That would be the only real reason for such a vacancy. She eyed the empty spot once more before continuing to walk in.

Something was wrong. It was late morning and the streets of the village were nearly vacant. Only a handful of vendors had their shops open and only a few people walking on the streets. Sakura tried to make eye contact with a few civilians, but just as their eyes met they would look down and hurry past.

"What's going on?" She mumbled as she looked to Sai. His expression tense as he looked around. Sakura knew that he was thinking of Ino at the moment because every few seconds his eyes would move to the direction of their home. "Hey, why don't you head home? I'll check in with Tsunade and give the report. You go see your wife and let her know I'll be over later so I can rub that big belly," she strained to smile. There was something going on that was making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Sai looked at her for a moment before curtly nodding his head and turned to the direction of his home.

The moment that he disappeared behind a building Sakura took to the roofs. There was something telling her to get off of the ground and she wasn't about to fight it. She looked down at the empty streets and her forehead creased in deep thought. She tried to come up with any feasible reason why the village would be so deserted on such a nice day, but every time her mind came up with conclusions that did not sit well with her. She disregarded them as a waste of time. She shook her head lightly, guessing at the moment worrying wouldn't bring her the answers she deeply needed. Once Sakura got to the tower the truth would be uncovered. With that thought, she pushed more chakra to her feet and ran faster.

Not even bothering to drop down, she jumped to the ledge of Tsunade's office. She peered in the window where she saw the Hokage sitting at her desk with her back to the window, leaning forward. Her normally well-groomed blonde pigtails hanging unevenly and frazzled. Just the sight of her hair in disarray had Sakura further on edge. Gently she tapped her knuckles on the window before beginning to push it open.

She watched as Tsunade slowly turned and her breath caught as she looked at the profile of her mentor. The normally youthful look was gone, instead, there were wrinkles marring her once perfect face. The skin of her jaw sagged and brown age spots speckled her face. There Tsunade sat looking far more tired and older than Sakura had ever seen. Tsunade narrowed her eyes, which had a milky coating over her honey colored iris, and frowned causing the lines around her mouth and eyes to deepen. She looked at Sakura wearily for a moment before her face fell. Sakura wasn't sure of what that look meant, she had never seen Tsunade with such an expression before.

"Tsunade," she said softly. She jumped as the woman in front of her slammed her hand down on her desk.

"What are you doing here?" Tsunade croaked. The smooth voice she had once had was replaced by a gravelly sound that reflected the disarray of the woman in front of her. Sakura, who was still crouching in the window frowned. She didn't know what Tsunade meant by the question, she was there because her mission was completed.

"Sai and I just got back from the mission," she replied slowly and watched as Tsunade's thin wrinkled lips pulled into a tight line.

"You- You are not supposed to be here," the blonde sighed as she slumped back into her chair. Closing her eyes she rested her head back and pinched the bridge of her nose as if trying to ward off a headache. "I sent a messenger to tell you not to come," she said shaking her head. Slowly Sakura began to lower herself from the sill and went deeper into the room. The whole time fighting the twisting feeling in her stomach.

Something was wrong.

"We never got the message," she said as she warily looked at the Hokage. Sakura let her eyes roam over her features until her eye was drawn to a dark spot on her forearm. Pulling in her lip under her teeth she examined the spot. It was an abrasion of some sort. It was deep dark red, the outside of it ragged as it exposed muscles. Around it small black lines began to run from the wound. Sakura had to shake her head to stop from staring at it. It should have been healed, or at the very least wrapped. She frowned still staring at the gaping hole. What the fuck was going on? Why was the best medic in the lands sitting there with such a wound? Nothing made sense. Gently she pushed medical chakra into her hand and began to approach Tsunade.

Before she could even take one step the Hokage's head snapped to look at her. Milky eyes focusing on the glowing hand. Her entire body tense as if she thought Sakura was going to attack her.

"Don't!" Tsunade said firmly. "Don't try and heal it. Using chakra only makes the infection advance faster," she said the stiffly, her eyes remaining on Sakura's hand the entire time.

Sakura just stood there looking at her in absolute confusion as she dismissed her chakra.

"Tsunade, what is going on? What is wrong with your arm? Where is everyone in the village? What the fuck is happening here?" a layer of desperation built in Sakura as she spoke. She could feel the panic rising through her body and she couldn't retain it anymore. Something was seriously wrong.

Slowly her Shishou tore her gaze away from her hand and looked at her face. Tsunade's body went limp once more falling to her seat after she was certain Sakura wouldn't react..

"Konoha has fallen," the Hokage said quietly. At that, Sakura sucked in a breath through her teeth. No, that wasn't possible. The village was still very much there. It was just missing her people. Her people. Sakura's eyes widened as she thought of what could have happened. Was there a pandemic that ran it's course? Was there no one here because they were all ill or dead?

Finally Tsunade started "There was an outbreak, about three weeks ago. An illness that seems to target shinobi or chakra users. At first, we couldn't figure out how it was passed. None of the patients had the same history. How it appeared is a complete mystery. The first stages just weakened the infected. It was very much like the flu. Chills, muscle aches, headaches, nausea, vomiting, chakra depletion. After a few days the eyes begin to film over, then the stomach cramping begins, the patient starts to shows signs of insomnia, restlessness. Confusion sets in as the brain swells, a clear result of the chakra running wildly through the patient's chakra pathways. The final stage is the aggression and full out delirium. At that point the person is no longer who they were, something triggers the-" Tsunade swallows trying to continue "the need to kill, the need to consume anything with chakra in it. We began to call them reapers. They seek out to destroy life." Sakura stands speechless her mouth open in surprise as the Hokage speaks "It also seems as if there's nerve damage causes interference in the pain receptors. But somehow the chakra network in the body repairs itself, and is actually stronger than before," Tsunade concluded as she roughly ran a hand down her face, smoothing the lines and creases for a moment.. There had never been an illness like this, or even close, that she was aware of. Her eyes went to the wound on Tsunade's arm. Oh God no.

"Are you..."

"Yes, I am. I was infected nearly a week and a half ago before I figured out that it was passing through bodily fluids," she said as her fingers brushed against the wound.

"There has to be something that can be done, some type of treatment," Sakura said firmly squaring off her shoulders. She couldn't let her teacher, her friend, her Hokage fall to a fucking virus. No, not when they have fought through so much worse. Tsunade's eyes softened as she looked at Sakura and shook her head slowly.

"I have been working night and day since this has appeared. I haven't made any headway and there is no time left. The only ones left in the village are the infected or the ones too stubborn to leave," she grimaced as she shifted in her chair. "I guess we can use this unfortunate event, though. Sakura, I am going to give you all of my research. I was planning on sending a hawk at the last minute to Suna, but it is probably better to have in your hands. I want you to get Sai and leave the village. Nothing can be done here, but maybe you can figure this out before it spreads too far. Suna, of course, has offered refuge for our villagers," Tsunade said as she gathered the paperwork on her desktop. "Where is Sai?"

"He went home to Ino," Sakura said. Tsunade looked up at her narrowing her eyes as she frowned. Sakura could feel her pulse begin to pick up. "Ino," she said her name slowly and carefully. Tsunade looked at her for a moment before turning her attention back to her research.

"Is infected," she said flatly.

The words sent a jolt down Sakura's spine. No… a grave expression took over her face. Not Ino too. This couldn't be real. This had to be a dream. A fucking nightmare. Everything was fine half an hour ago, and now her world was crumbling. "You need to take this and leave as quickly as possible," Tsunade held out a thick file. Sakura just stared at it, she couldn't will herself to move. "Take it, girl!" The Hokage yelled as she lifted the folder higher. "There really is no time," she said through tight lips. At that, she locked eyes with her mentor.

"What do you mean there is no time?" She asked as she shuffled her feet forward and clumsily took the file. Tsunade let out a dry laugh.

"I mean by sunset tonight the village will be no more. In a few hours the village of the leaf will burn," Tsunade said as her face became stony. Sakura found her head shaking as her knees gave out under her. She closed her eyes so that she couldn't see the aged face of Tsunade.

"No... No, you can't do that!" She almost whispered. "No! I won't let you! I won't let you die!" She screamed as she hit her fist against the ground and gnashed teeth as she looked up at the blonde who now had tears threatening to be released.

"Sakura, there is no other way. This virus has spread too quickly, and once the incubation is complete the infected are too dangerous. All they do is cause death and destruction, they use chakra as if they don't have limits. I can't let this spread any farther. My hope is that this will stop once Konoha is no more," she sighed as she shook her head. Sakura shook her head right back. No, no, no no no no! This isn't right. The village.. HER village couldn't burn. No, this was home. She clenched her teeth and her fists and glared at Tsunade.

A rough noise of feet sliding against the floor brought Sakura's attention to the door. A sound of scratching quickly followed it. Slowly Sakura began to stand as the door creaked as it began to open. In through the crack slid a head covered with black hair, the person's movement were jerky as they entered the room.

"Shizune?" Sakura called as she looked at the woman. Immediately her head snapped up, her dark eyes covered by the same milky coating as Tsunade. She didn't speak she just stood there tense for a moment before a low growl rumbled from her chest.

"Shit," Tsunade hissed between her teeth as she stood from her chair. Sakura glanced over at the blonde and in that split second suddenly Shizune was in front of her. Sakura jumped at the quick movement but the woman remained close to her. Her foggy eyes narrowed as she clenched her jaw, the muscles ticking with the strain, she took a step closer and inhaled through her nose. She let out a breath that fanned Sakura's face. A sour smell engulfed her as Shizune continued her deep inhales and exhales. Sakura just stood and looked to her senpai, confusion distorting her features. "You better fight it girl, don't do this. Not when we are so close to the end," Tsunade said anxiously as she carefully took a step forward. Shizune tilted her head in the direction of the Hokage one brow lifting as she took another deep inhale. She shook her head and snapped back to Sakura. Who felt like her heart was going to explode from her chest at any moment. Clutching the file to her chest she slowly began to take a step backward. Yes, this looked like Shizune, but there was nothing left of the woman. Sakura knew that. Every molecule in her body was screaming that she was now a threat. The way Shizune moved was so strange, her limbs had a jerky kickback that sent a signal to her brain that something unnatural had taken over. The small movement of her retreat was enough to trigger something in the brunette.

Sakura quickly evaded a punch that Shizune aimed at her head. Dropping the files she didn't waste time and dodged a kick that was meant to have her on the ground. She shook her head to push away the shock at the situation. What the fuck was happening? She yelled her Senpai's name as Shizune continued her onslaught, but nothing seemed to snap her out of her aggressive stand. Her movements were wild and uncalculated as she threw her body at Sakura. She could hear Tsunade yelling but didn't have time to listen. Shizune wasn't giving her any time to recoup, she just kept coming after her. Sakura kept dodging the blows and couldn't get herself to be on the offensive. She couldn't hurt the woman who had been like a sister to her. So she just kept avoiding the blows, that was until Shizune's hand wrapped in her hair jerking her head to hers. Another savage growl left her before her teeth began to chatter as she lowered her head to Sakura's shoulder. She had to get away, she couldn't let the brunette bite her so she pushed chakra into her foot and slammed it into Shizune's stomach. She sent the woman flying. Shizune tore out clumps of hair as she sailed across the room where she met the wall with a sickening thunk. Sakura stood and stared at the broken body of Shizune, horror creeping up as she realized what she had just done.

She looked over to Tsunade who was also staring at the broken woman. She tried to say something, anything at all, but no noise would come from her. No, all she could do was look back and forth between her teachers. That was until a gurgling noise came from Shizune. Startled Sakura quickly looked to the crumpled form of the woman.

There was no way she should be getting up from that. Sakura was sure that she broke her back, but there she was clumsily pulling herself from the hole in the wall. Growling as she glared back.

Once again Sakura was dumbfounded. She felt relief to see Shizune up, but also a vast amount of fear as she looked at her with blank eyes. No, they weren't blank. She could see the thirst in them, the thirst for her to kill and consume. Tsunade was yelling again, but Sakura couldn't hear what her mentor was screaming. She was too engrossed with Shizune. Her bones were cracking and crunching as she straightened body. Blood running from her mouths and ears. Her hand still formed a fist with clumps of pink hair coming out between her fingers. Her glare became sharper as her hands lifted and slowly began to form seals. That movement broke what was seizing her. She knew those hand seals, and that would have killed anyone in the tower. Shizune was going to release a poisonous gas. There really was nothing left of her friend.

Sakura found herself launching her body at the woman grabbing her wrists and shoving them into the wall. Once she had Shizune pinned all she could do was stare in horror as her surrogate sister growled and snapped at the air. Spit flying from her lip as she pulled back her lips from her teeth. Sakura found that she didn't know what to do. If this was an enemy she would have easily ended her life, but this was Shizune. She helped teach Sakura her craft, made her strong. She was a shoulder that she would cry on. No. She had to internally shake herself, this was not her. She wouldn't have attacked her, she wouldn't have tried to expose all of the Hokage tower to her gas. But.. This WAS her.

"Kill her! You have to snap the neck right under her skull!" Tsunade yelled. Sakura couldn't help but glance over at the woman in shock. Her face was warped into an expression that was both fearful and sorrowful. She looked back to Shizune who continued to snap at the air. God, how was she suppose to kill this woman? "Sakura, you have to kill her. Don't you fucking let her infect you! You may be the last hope to figure this out. Please kill her, it will be a kindness," Tsunade said frantically from behind. Taking a deep breath Sakura pushed all thoughts out of her mind. She need to think of this as she would in the field, she had to ignore all her emotions. Letting the breath out she squeezed her eyes shut tight as she let her chakra seep into Shizune's body until it reached the base of her skull. Quickly she made it sever the connection of the spinal cord. Feeling the woman go limp in her hands, she opened her eyes to see a dead-eyed Shizune hanging before her.

Sakura let her go and Shizune's body slid down the wall until she sat on the floor as a sob fell from her. She took a step back as the brunette's body fell from her sitting position so she was laying on the ground.

What had she done? What the fuck had she just done!

Covering her mouth to catch any more cries, she took a slow step backward staring at the crumpled body of her friend. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tsunade walking slowly up to the women. Her hand reaching out cautiously before she cradled her head in her palms. This could not be happening. None of this should be fucking happening. Sakura's chest began to ache as her breath began to catch. All she could do was clutch her hand to her chest and try to force air into her lungs as she stared at the scene in front of her. Tsunade turned her head slowly, her cloudy eyes looking up, filled with moisture.

"It had to be done, Sakura," Tsunade said shakily. She shook her head slightly looking back to the corpse then to Sakura. "Sakura, there was nothing else that could be done, not for her or me. But there may be something that you can do. I need you to take the papers, go get Sai and leave. Head towards Suna. That is where everyone else is going. I am sorry, I wish there was more that I could do for you, but getting you out of here and giving you that information is priority. Perhaps you can save others," Tsunade said as she kneeled down to cradle Shizune.. "Please don't end up like us," Tsunade finally broke as she began to sob. Sakura just stood there for a moment, before she took a slow step forward. The movement brought Tsunade's attention back to her. "What are you waiting for? Get those papers and get the hell out of here! That is an order Sakura!" Tsunade screamed as the tears flowed down from her cheeks. The volume of her voice made Sakura jump back a bit. She snorted the snot that was running from her nose and pushed the tears that were running from her eyes away, as the hard glare from Tsunade softened. "Please don't let us die in vain. Please... go." Sakura inhaled deeply as she began to pick up the papers on her floor. What was she going to do here? What did she have to offer when even the Hokage couldn't do anything in this situation? If Tsunade believed that she could help, she had to do as she ordered. She would figure it out. She would respect the final order that she would receive from her Hokage.

Once all the papers were picked up and placed into the file Sakura turned back to Tsunade.

Her Hokage was crying softly as she held Shizune tight to her chest. She was paralyzed, didn't know what to do or say, she stood there while tears streamed from her eyes for what felt like an eternity.

Eventually, she found herself slowly walking forward. She fell to her knees next to Tsunade and placed her hand carefully on her shoulder, scared that her Shishou would reject her. At the touch, the Hokage let out a loud sob that was the most sorrowful sound she had ever heard. Tsunade slowly lifted her hand and placed it over Sakura's and gave it a gentle squeeze as her shoulder rose and fell from her cries.

"I am so sorry," Tsunade said softly as she shook her head. "I am so sorry this was all left to you. I am sorry that I can't be there to help, I am so sorry Sakura," She said as she turned her milky eyes to her. "You need to go now," She said with a frown. Not trusting her voice, all Sakura could do was pull in her lips and nod, letting her hand fall to her side. "Know that I love you. I have loved you as if you were my own," Tsunade said gently. At those words, Sakura couldn't help but place her hand on the cheek of her mentor. Her skin was soft and loose under her fingers as Tsunade leaned her head into her palm. Suddenly Sakura was wrapped in the Hokage's arm in a tight grip. "Go. Live and be strong. Fix this and find the happiness you deserve," Once again Sakura couldn't help the sob that burst from her chest as she pulled Tsunade tighter to her. She cried onto her shoulder as she nodded her head. "It is time for you to go," Tsunade said gently. Sakura nodded her head as cries still fell from her mouth.

A lump in her throat had swelled and kept her from uttering words, so much was her grief that she only managed to rasp "I love you," through her hoarse voice. With one final squeeze, she released the woman from her grip and turned on her heals. As she walked to the window sill she tried to compose herself but was finding that she didn't have the control that she wished for. Each step that she took from the Hokage and Shizune her cries became harder. Once she had herself perched on the sill, she froze as Tsunade spoke up once more.

"Sakura-" Tsunade said between cries. "Try not to use chakra. It seems when the infected go into the final stage, it draws them in like honey to bees. Use it sparingly," she warned. Sakura didn't bother turning around, knowing that if she looked at her surrogate mother she wouldn't have the strength to leave. So Sakura stayed still as she perched in the window looking out on her village, that would soon be no more, and sniffling back tears she nodded. Not waiting for another word she pushed her body out of the window and took to the streets.

She ran as fast as she could without chakra. She was on her way to Sai and Ino's but slowed for a moment as she cursed herself. She had forgotten to ask about her parents, her teammates, and her friends. How could she have forgotten to ask? She looked, with an agonized glance,towards the sun. The light and tears burning her eyes. There was probably only a few hours left for the village, she wouldn't have time to go to them all. Taking a breath she was going to have to settle on her parents and her team, then pray that the rest were somewhere safe.

Surely she made rounds looking for her close ones. At last Sakura left Yamato's with a sigh of relief. They had all seemed to evacuated. Her parents, Naruto's, Kakashi's and Yamato's homes all were empty. Their closets bare as were their weapon stashes. If they were not on their way to Suna, they must have been out on a mission. She tried to push away the small voice in her head that told her they may be infected. She couldn't think like that, not now. She shifted her bag on her hip, at each place she had found something that was left behind. She wasn't sure why the items were left, but having their personal belongings will make them feel a bit closer until it was time to met up again. She once again looked up to the sun. She would have to get to Sai's and fast. There may have been an hour left, perhaps less. So she swallowed thickly and sprinted across town.

She couldn't help her feet from slowing as she approached the tiny bungalow that her two friends had just recently purchased. She would have to go into it, get Sai and leave Ino. If she thought that it was difficult to leave Tsunade, how in the hell was she suppose to leave her oldest and dearest friend? She walked up the flowered lined pathway to the door hesitantly. Taking a deep breath she put her hand on the knob but was unable to turn it. Her mind shouted for her to move, she didn't have time for this, but her body wasn't listening. She gripped the knob harder in order to stop her hand from shaking. It didn't work. Instead it made metallic scraping noises as it shook with her hand.

Her whole body stiffened as loud thunking noises came from the small house. It was quickly followed by the muffled noise of Sai yelling. She couldn't clearly hear the words, but the amount of panic in them made her throw the door open. Once she was inside she heard the telltale sounds of a scuffle. She had to cover her mouth as the smell of rotting flesh hit her nostrils. Nearly gagging she fumbled through the floral wallpapered entryway. The sound of dishes crashing to the ground as pots and pans clanking echoed through the house. Sakura ran through the couple's living room, jumping over the couch and climbed over an overturned table before skidding to a stop into the kitchen.

Blood, there was so much blood. The air was thick with the coppery decaying smell and the floor was slippery as it was coated in the bright red liquid. This was not old blood it was all new. With horror, Sakura looked up to see the back of Ino as she was pinning Sai to the wall, his hands over her forearms pushing her back as she growled and snapped at him.

"Ino! What are you doing? What is going on?" The man screamed, but no answer would come from the blonde, only growls and gurgles. Sakura looked at-what was supposed to be a light grey-the night dress Ino had on. Most of it was stained a deep dark red as it was covered in blood. Red drops freely falling from the hem adding to the red lake of the kitchen. Sakura looked Ino up and down but she couldn't see a wound. Quickly her eyes went to Ino's hands... They were coated in red. Did she do this? Was she lost just as Shizune was?

"Ino!" Sakura screamed as she tossed her bag onto the kitchen counter. She watched as Ino stilled immediately. Slowly she turned her head to look at Sakura, and what she saw made her want to crumble. Her eyes were no longer the vivid blue that they had once been, no, they were covered with the same milky film as Tsunade and Shizune. The blonde´s pouty mouth was forced into a feral grin as she licked the side of her mouth. Blood smeared over her teeth, her lips, and the skin around. There was a long wet string of saliva and blood forming as it dribbled down her chin. Sakura had to blink to really understand what she saw.

A monster.

Sai attempted to move and that caused Ino to snap her head back to the man. Her fingers flexing in what looked like hand signs as she snapped at Sai's arms. No, she couldn't let her use a jutsu. Sakura ran forward, falling to her knees as she slid into the other woman. The blood was cold as it covered her knees. She slammed into Ino, her breath pushed from her chest at the impact. Without giving herself a moment to regain her composure she grasped onto Ino's ankles and tried to crawl back. She needed to get her off of Sai before she managed to bite him or use a jutsu. She clumsily pushed herself back, the heels of her foot slipping as she tried to gain leverage, red splashing around her with each movement. She cursed the sweater that she was wearing. She should having thrown it off when she took her bag off. It was soaking the blood up fast becoming heavier on her frame. The metallic smell of blood flooding her nose as it coated her clothes and skin. She kept on trying to grip onto Ino but her hands kept on sliding from the slick skin. Letting out a scream, she dug her fingers into Ino's ankles gave one final pull with all her might. Ino fell to the ground with a thunk. Ino lay sprawled out on her belly, the last unsoiled light grey material of her dress becoming scarlet. The blonde turned her head and glared at Sakura before grabbing onto Sai's legs.

"Fucking let him go!" She screamed as she grasped onto Ino's upper calf and slid her back. There was a brief moment of resistance before Ino flew back into her. The force of the pull made Sakura fall backward. She scrambled to get herself up, but as she did Ino flipped from her stomach to her back, milky eyes locking onto hers. Sakura kept her eyes trained on Ino as she pushed herself to her knees. Right as Ino began to growl at her she launched herself over the blonde's body. In the back of her mind, she could hear Sai yelling and screaming but he wouldn't understand what she was doing, and she sure as hell didn't have the time to explain it here and now. Not when the only thing that Ino wanted was to kill or infect them. So she clumsily crawled up the blonde. She placed a hand on Ino's hip to pull her under her, and she nearly pulled it back at what she felt under her fingers. Where there should have been taunt skin of Ino's belly was a hole that her hand was in. She could feel the smooth walls of her intestine and the pulse of her heartbeat through her veins. Sakura looked down to see her hand had disappeared into Ino's lower body cavity as blood and innards surged through the broken skin. She moved her hand creating a wet suctioning noise as she pulled it out. The smell of rotting wafted from Ino's lower cavity as she felt an intestine leaking out. Ino let out a guttural cry. Sakura quickly looked up to see her reaching out to grab her, snarling at her with her teeth bared. Ignoring the sick feeling that was taking over, Sakura reached out to grab Ino's hands pinning them to the floor. Ino growled and spat in frustration the same sour breath poured from her mouth as with Shizune.. Her hips bucking up into Sakura as she straddled her, she could feel the warmth of blood and bodily fluids seeping into her pants as it gushed from the blonde's body.

Sakura knew what she had to do, it was the same as Shizune. She felt as if her mind and soul were shattering as she looked down at Ino's face. Ino glared up at her, her brows and mouth contorted in frustration and rage. Sakura was sure that she was attempting to growl, but instead, it came out as a gurgle as blood began to run down the corners of her lips.

She wanted to die. Right there and then. Never in her life had she wished for death. Having to kill Ino, killing Shizune, leaving everyone in the fucking village to die. She wanted to die with them because she wasn't sure if she could do this again. Could she do it again? Could she kill Ino?

She took a shaky breath in as she released her chakra again. She knew that she shouldn't be using it, but she didn't have a better plan. It felt slower this time than with Shizune. It felt like it took hours as it ran along nerve and chakra pathways to reach the base of the skull. Once she felt it there she halted its movement and let her eyes roam over her friend's face. She watched Ino through blurry eyes as the tears that were rolling from her cheeks landed on Ino's skin making patterns in the blood.

"I am sorry Ino, I love you," she whispered in remorse as she closed her eyes and let her chakra cut through the spinal cord.

She was still straddling Ino's hips as Sai's voice finally began to make sense. Before she could even look up at him he was pushing her off of Ino's body.

"What have you done!?" Sai screamed as he fell to his knees pulling Ino into his lap. He roughly ran his hand through her blood matted hair, before turning his head and glaring at Sakura. All she could do was look back at him as she silently cried. "What the fuck did you do Sakura!" He spat at her as he rocked the body. Still, she couldn't form the words, because there was nothing that she could think to say. All she could do was watch as Sai pulled Ino tighter to him. There was a soft thud of flesh hitting the floor and she looked down to see part of Ino's small intestine fell from the hole in her lower body. She hadn't noticed before but the cloth of her dress was torn away to reveal just what Ino had done. Her watery gaze narrowed as she looked to see the hole that her hand had gone into, it looked as if someone, or something, had been clawing into the lower cavity. Sakura could see intestines, large and small, rips and holes in them as the fecal matter and other fluids oozed out. Her liver that looked completely ruptured. Amongst all that was Ino's womb, halfway hanging out. It was empty. Sakura felt her stomach twist as she realized that the baby was also no more, and by the looks of it, it was Ino that had dug it out herself. Sakura swallowed thickly to try and rid herself of the wave of nausea that suddenly rose.

She was pulled back to herself as the alarm bells for the village rang. She looked to the window that was over the kitchen sink to see that the sun was close to setting. The village was going to burn, and it was going to burn soon. She looked back to Sai, who was still rocking Ino as hard sobs left him. Shaking herself she ran to the counter and grabbed her pack. They needed to leave and they needed to leave now.

"Where is your pack?" She asked as she shouldered hers. Sai didn't answer just continues to rock the corpse of his wife as he ran his fingers through her hair. Sakura walked up to him, hyper aware of the sickening sticky sounds that came each time she took a step. She grabbed Sai by his shoulders and shook him. "Where is your pack?" She asked again, as another siren went off in the background. Sai looked at her and glared, his mouth snarling as he jerked his shoulder away from her.

"You fucking killed her! You killed my wife!" He screamed. She couldn't help but flinch at his word but she couldn't let herself break down, not now. The problem was she didn't know how to deal with this, there was no time to explain what was happening, hell she wasn't sure if she understood it herself. Sai slowly and gently began to place Ino down. He cautiously stood and stared at Sakura with the eyes of a mad man. She stilled as she felt every hair on the back of her neck raise, she knew what was coming, but there wasn't any fucking time!

Sai reached around his back and grabbed a kunai before he attacked her. They were both screaming incoherently at each other. Sai calling her a killer and murderer, and Sakura screaming that they had no time. The battle was sloppy, as they slid around in the pools of blood. There was far too much emotion to be anything but. Sakura used that to her advantage. Sai wasn't thinking clearly. She was a little better off than him, which wasn't saying a whole lot. So she let him lunge at her, she then used the slickness of the blood to basically slide behind him. There she was able to touch the back of his neck, where she quickly located the pressure point that she needed and pushed her chakra into it. For the third time today someone she loved collapsed in front of her.

Sakura gathered Sai and placed him on her back. She wasn't suppose to use chakra, but she needed to get them both out of there quickly. She enforced her muscles so that she could barely feel his weight . She hurried to the front door, out of the corner of her eye she could see his pack on the couch. She rushed over and grabbed it before fleeing from the house and from the village.

She ran as fast as she could for nearly fifteen miles. She could still faintly hear the sirens, but she thought that they should be safe enough. So she gingerly put Sai down against a tree and slumped down next to him. She took a deep breath closing her eyes, letting her head fall backwards to rest against the rough bark. What the fuck just happened?! Her mind was screaming at her, but she didn't understand one bit of what was going on. She slowly opened her eyes. It wasn't quite nightfall yet, there was enough light to read. So with shaky, blood covered, hands she pulled out the file that Tsunade gave her. It would provide the only answers right now. Though, before she could even open the file the air was filled with the sound of a massive explosion as the earth began to shake. All kind of animals rushed out of their shelters and birds screeched as they flew off in every direction, scared for their lives. She quickly stood and took several steps forward as she looked in the direction of the village. Just over the tops of the trees, she could see black smoke begin to plume. Once again her knees gave out at she fell to the ground.

It was gone. It was really gone. That was all she could think as she stared at the massive black cloud that was moving over the treetops. Konoha was burning right now. She had no home. There was no more Tsunade. There was no more Shizune. There was no more Ino... And all she could fucking do was stare at the damn smoke. She didn't know how long she knelt there, staring at the sky, but soon she heard Sai begin to stir. She looked back at him with a worried expression. How was she going to explain this to him? She watched as his eyes fluttered open. At first, it was like any other time she had seen him wake, that was until he remembered. His gaze sharpened as he looked at her. He frowned as his nostrils flared and he began to stand. But he couldn't stand. He fumbled back down to the ground grabbing his leg as he hissed in pain. Sakura furrowed her brows as she followed his movements.

That's when she saw it.

Right above his ankle, mixing in with the red that covered his skin, was a bite mark

 **Hope you liked the chapter. Thank you to my beta Faraheim See ya all soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

All Sakura could do for a few breaths was stare in stunned horror at the wound on Sai's ankle. She blinked in hope that what she was seeing was just her imagination or perhaps a trick of the light. To her dismay, it wasn't either. Every time that she opened her eyes the teeth marks became clearer and more pronounced.

She sat still as she inspected the area. Internally she was screaming at herself. How? How did that happen? Did Ino get a hold of him before she got there? No, he was standing in the kitchen just fine when she pulled her off of him. Then again, adrenaline did do wonders to the body. She tried to remember if it was there then, but everything happened so fast. She didn't even think to look him over to see if he was bitten. She was more concerned with getting Ino away from him.

She shook her head and focused on him again causing her breath catch in her chest. Her eyes grew wider as she stared at the bloody punctures. When she pulled her off of him. That was when it happen. When she fell backward when Ino was on her stomach, in that brief moment of resistance it must have been when it happened. Shit! Shit! Shit! Gnashing her teeth she tore her eyes away from the offending flesh and looked up to Sai's anger twisted face.

Sakura could feel her stomach begin to clench painfully as it hit her: she was going to have to kill another friend.

No. She shook her head quickly, she wasn't going to let him die. It was still possible to save him. The infection might be slow moving. If it was, all she would need to do is separate the infected area from his body. She would do everything she could do to save him. She knew that Ino would never forgive her if she let him become a monster like she had. Taking a sharp breath she quickly and clumsily lunged forward to try and grab his leg.

"Get away from me! You fucking murderous bitch!" Sai spat as he kicked his leg away from her as he began to crawl backward. Her mouth twisted into a grimace as he continued to kick at her, but she wasn't going to let him stop her. He didn't understand what was happening and what needed to be done.

"Sai, I need to look at the wound on your leg. Just sit still!" She growled at him as her fingers began to circle around his ankle. He tried once more to throw her off as he scrambled back. His movements stopped for a moment as his back hit the trunk of the tree he was previously propped on.

"Don't touch me!" He screamed as her grip began to tighten. He snarled as he looked at her before releasing a mouth full of spit into her face.

Sakura blinked for a moment as she felt the warm liquid run down her skin. Her eyes tightened into a glare. A growl rumbled in her chest as her mouth moved into a tight line. She had to remind herself that he didn't know what was going on. That he didn't understand the situation. Taking a deep breath she pulled his leg toward her. He flailed trying to get away, kicking his free foot to the side of her face. The shock of the hit caused her to loosen her hold on him as black dots began to fill her vision. Clenching her jaw she shook her head to clear her sight and again reached out and found her target.

"Calm the fuck down! I need to look at your leg!" She yelled but Sai continued to flop around like a fish out of water. There was no way that she would be able to assess his situation like this. Not to mention the fact that the more he moved the faster his heart beat would go. That meant the faster his blood would carry the infection through his body. She needed him still, she needed him calm. She knew she only had one option.

Digging her fingers into the flesh of his leg, Sakura quickly pulled him towards herself. His body jerked as he was drawn closerto her over the uneven ground. He screamed and spat at her as she began to climb over him. His fisted hands moved wildly as he hit her over and over again. He hit her all over, never landing a punch in the same place twice. His legs kicked up and down as he attempted to buck her off. She ignored it all and continued to struggle to reach his neck.

"I am going to fucking kill you!" He screamed through clenched teeth as she began to straddle his waist. Kneeling over him she caught his wrists in the air and slammed to the ground. He glared up at her as her face hovered over his.

"Not if you don't live," she said softly as her face softened. His eyes grew wide at her response as his body stiffened even further under her.

Before he even had a chance to respond she quickly released her hand from his wrist and touched two fingers to the base of his skull releasing a burst of chakra into his brain. Immediately she felt his body go lax under her as he went unconscious.

Sakura straightened herself as she took several deep breaths. She reached up and shakily attempted to run her fingers through her hair, which immediately she was met with resistance. Ino's blood had dried to it leaving it stiff and tacky. A few black flakes fell in front of her eyes as it cracked off of her shafts. Pulling her hand from her scalp she then shook them to her side, attempting to calm her quivering muscles. With another deep breath, she looked down on Sai. He laid under her peacefully. Just as if he fell asleep when they had made camp on the way home. His eyes were shut, and his entire face relaxed as his lips parted slightly as he took in deep breaths of slumber.

She shook her head. Sakura needed to focus on what had to be done. She needed to inspect his wound and see how far the infection had spread. She didn't have time to look at him. With quick movements she crawled off of him, settling into a kneeling position next to the afflicted leg. She reached into her bag and pulled out a kunai and brought it to the bottom hem of his pants, slicing through the cotton material until it was separated to the mid thigh. Once she had the fabric rolled back she reached into her pack again and pulled out her canteen of water. She ran the liquid over his pale skin. It as dark, but with the light of the moon, she watched as it went from a vibrant red to a dull pink as it washed away the blood. His hair follicles raised as his skin rippled with goose bumps at the temperature difference. Once she was satisfied that most of the area was clean she leaned back.

She stared at the dark wound. It was much too dark for her to see. She frowned as she realized that she needed to get a fire started. That was more time then she wanted to use, but she didn't have an option. So she quickly gathered a few dry pieced of wood and built a small fire next to him. She didn't waste a moment once the fire was started to turn her attention back to Sai.

Gently she ran her finger over each of the punctures. They weren't clean holes, but that was to be expected, seeing as she had torn Ino off of him. The teeth marks were clear, and ragged from the pull. She inspected the area where Ino's top teeth went in, then moved towards the bottom of the bite. She cringed a bit as she realized that the bottom of her teeth had gone under the skin, the layers of fat and muscles and down to the bone.

Gingerly she lifted the skin flap to see if the tissue had become discolored. Instead of the bright red that one would expect, it was blue like the blood that had not been exposed to oxygen. Furrowing her brow she looked up his leg. The discoloration was not evident through his skin, perhaps she was right and it was slow moving. Then again neither Shizune nor Ino had discolored skin.

She placed the skin back over the wound and chewed her lip. How was she going to know where to cut? How was she supposed to know what was going on without chakra? Tsunade said that it made the infection spread faster. How could she possibly do this without using chakra? She didn't have anything that she needed. There was nothing out here but her small medic pack. No diagnostic machine, no monitors, nothing. She glanced up at Sai's face. He still looked peaceful as he laid there. She could attempt to guess where the infection ended, but if she was wrong... No, she could not lose him too. He may hate her for killing Ino, but she couldn't let him go. Not without a fight.

Letting out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding, she decided what must be done. She would use her chakra to find out how far it went. She had the best chakra control around. Tsunade would often tell her that it even rivaled her own. She could do this, she would just have to make sure that she was in and out of his body as quickly as possible. Shaking out her hands, she grimaced. She already used chakra on him, in his brain. Letting out a hiss she once again looked to his face. What if she... No, she couldn't think about that now. She had to see where it spread first. It was only a chakra burst. It couldn't do that much damage. Could it? Pushing aside the thought she placed her hands on his ankle. One thing at a time, she reminded herself. First, she had to see what tissue had been infected. Releasing a slow breath, she let her chakra seep into his skin.

She held back a gasp as she came into contact with the virus. It felt as if it was drawing the chakra out of her body and greedily consuming it. She furrowed her brow as she pushed to examine the area. The feeling of this virus truly was terrifying. She could feel each of her chakra strings getting smaller as it was being devoured. She knew that she had even less time than she thought she would. Sakura squeezed her eyelids shut as she forced her chakra to speed through his limb. Quickly it traveled through the fibers of his muscles, the strings of nerves, the hard surface of his bones. With every second she could feel herself becoming weaker. Though, she also did notice as her chakra traveled the virus seemed to speed up. It was following her movements as if she had opened up floodgates. It was using her as an accelerant for its domination. Clenching her jaw tighter she pushed her chakra once more. She knew that if she couldn't find and unaffected area with this last push, she wouldn't be able to find any. Her chakra was being pulled from her too quickly and the strings were becoming much too feeble to move much farther up.

"Come on," she growled as her chakra was thinning. She felt beads of sweat rolling down her face as she kept pushing. "Please, just a little bit farther," she pleaded. Who she was pleading to, she honestly didn't know. Herself? A god? A spirit? It didn't matter as long as she could reach viable flesh. She had to reach it, but there was none. None at all. She began to feel the tingling sensation in her nasal cavities, the sensation that always happened before she would cry. Furrowing her brows down further, she tried to ignore the sensation. She would keep on working. Though, the creeping thought that the infection had spread throughout his body was nagging at her mind.

"No," she said through clenched teeth. She kept on pushing. Her chakra was weakening to the point where she was losing the ability to read it. It also began to slow as strings began to snap from the virus eating at it. Her hair felt wet once more, but that not from blood, but from the perspiration that was coating her whole body. She attempted to keep on pushing more but was moving at such a sluggish pace. This was it. It was over. There was nothing that could be done. She swallowed hard to push down the bile that was threatening to come up. Just as she was about to pull her energy out of his body, that was when she felt it. There was healthy tissue. Her eyes sprang open just as the last string disappeared. Frantically she looked down at the pale leg. All of that fighting and pushing and her chakra only manage to go three inches under his knee. She grimaced down at him as she began to check her own chakra supply. She frowned as she felt that she had used up more than seventy-five percent. She would have to make this fast and efficient, otherwise, she would have to release her stored chakra. She really couldn't afford to do that right now. No, after releasing her seal she would need time to recuperate, and that just wasn't going to happen. She looked back down at his leg.

"Taking one off should be much easier than putting one together," she sighed. While she was an expert at healing, this was one thing she had never done. She had never had to amputate anything. She always put people back together. She never wanted to take a limb from another shinobi. That was death to their career. A shinobi that still had years ahead of them, to take away an appendage that would make them less than capable. It was also death to their spirit. Running her hand over her moist forehead she looked down once more. No, this wouldn't be Sai's death. Not in spirit or career. She would fix it. She could just grow him a leg like they had for Naruto's arm. It would be fine.

With that, she began to formulate a chakra scalpel over the top of her pointer and middle finger. She forced it to circulate in an almost wild and chaotic rhythm. She wanted as much friction with his flesh and bone as possible. She wanted her blade to not only cut but to cauterize as it did its work. Once she was satisfied with the speed, that is when she brought it down just below his knee cap.

The moment her chakra came in contact with his skin she could hear the sizzle of the skin. Moments later the air was engulfed in the sweet acidic smell of burning flesh. It was an aroma that she had smelled before but had never grown accustomed to. There was something so instinctively wrong about experiencing such an odor. Something that said no matter what, you shouldn't smell another human being cooked. She had to hold back a gag as the fatty smell clung to the back of her throat and filled her nostrils.

She moved her blade quickly but it was as if time had slowed. Each second felt like hours as her chakra tore through the leg. She could feel every muscle fiber snapping, each vein trying to push blood through, the layers of bone cracking as it split. If this had been an enemy, she knew that she wouldn't have an issue. She had plunged blades into people that had tried to kill her with no hesitation. But right now, she was dismembering someone she loved. She also knew that more than likely, when he woke up, he would completely hate her. She had killed his wife, he would more than likely think the child in Ino perished because of her and now she was taking his leg. Sai was a rational man, but she knew this was something were his emotions would win over.

The moment she made her way all the way through his leg she leaned forward and retracted her chakra. She panted as she looked at the black line between his thigh and calf. Right now, it just looked as if he had tied a ribbon around his knee. Sitting straight she gingerly picked up his lower leg and tossed it to the side. Now, she had a complete view of his burned stump. She didn't have much chakra left, but she quickly moved her hands to lay on his chest. Letting it out once more she searched his bodies for impurities, all while pleading that she does not find any.

Letting out a sigh of relief, as she finished cycling through his body a fifth time before letting her chakra dissipate. Nothing. Everything was normal. She had a bit of extra chakra to spare, so she used it to heal a part of his stump, mainly focusing on numbing the nerves so there wasn't much pain when he woke. It only took a few moments, and as soon as she was finished she sat back and slumped over.

The adrenaline rush caused by worry was now fading and she was beginning to feel the exhaustion set in. At that moment there was nothing more she wanted to do then sit down and collect herself. She looked up to Sai's sleeping face as she took a deep breath in. She couldn't do that, though. They were in the middle of the woods open to all attacks. Sai wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, but she would need to find shelter for them for a few days at least. Pulling in her bottom lip, she tried to formulate a plan. The thought of camping out for a few days was quickly checked from the list. The fact was they had just returned from their mission would make that impossible, while she did have some food and supplies, she was sure that it was not enough resources for such a break. Not to mention they still have to travel to Suna There was also the fact that it was early spring, the night was going to grow cold and that was not a good environment to have someone who just had gone through what Sai had just been through. They had to find shelter, a place that was warm. Not only for Sai, she needed it also. She would have to rest for a night, gathering as much chakra as she could, then she would carry Sai the rest of the journey. She nodded to herself as she began to settle on the plan.

"Try not to use chakra. It seems when the infected go into the final stage, it draws them in like honey to bees," Tsunade's words rang in her mind. Quickly, her nodding movement dissipated as she began to shake her head. Don't use chakra. But... All the infected were burned when Tsunade destroyed Konoha... Right?

As if answering her silent question there was a twig that suddenly snapped off in the distance. Sakura whipped her head in the direction of the noise as she squinted her eyes. It was well into the night at this point, and the moon and her tiny camp fire only offered enough light for her to see a few yards in front of her. Quietly she began to pull herself from the ground. A few more snaps of wood and the rustling of leaves filled the air. She prayed that it was just an animal, or maybe a traveler but she wasn't going to take her chances. She quickly put out the small fire and sat still hoping whatever it was would just pass without taking notice of them. Her prayers went unanswered as she watched two dark figures moving in a jerky manner out of the shadow of the trees.

Tsunade wasn't able to destroy all the infected.

She moved silently as she stood then began to crouch over Sai's body. She wasn't sure if these people were infected, even though they were moving in the same manner that Shizune and Ino had moved. She held onto the hope that the part of her that was screaming they were infected was wrong. She stood absolutely still as she prayed that if it was quite enough that they would just move on. But, After the day she was having, she should have known it wouldn't be that easy. Nothing would be easy again. Holding her breath she kept a keen eye on the figures as they began to stumble forward. She could hear the hiss of breath as it was being drawn in quickly through the nose. They were infected! Her mind kept screaming at her. She couldn't bring herself to move, though.

Slowly they crept forward, and slowly the blue light of the moon began to reflect off of their skin. She narrowed her eyes as faces began to appear. The moment they were bathed in the moonlight, Sakura felt her stomach twist sharply.

"Konohamaru? Moegi?" The names fell softly from her lips before she could stop them. The heads of the two young ninja's snapped in her direction, and all she could do was stare at them with wide eyes. Just like Shizune, just like Ino, they were them but also not. First, her eyes inspected Konohamaru. The moonlight filling his milky eye as he glared in her direction. Everything else was the same on the boy. Except that there was a large dark spot on the right side were his neck and shoulders met. His clothing on that side was also stained darker than the other side. Sakura quickly put together that it must have been a large wound and his blood had stained his clothes. His teeth chattered as he looked at her and continued to draw in deep breaths.

Quickly she flickered her sight over to Moegi. Her body had not fared as well as Konohamaru. The clothes that she wore were stained also looking entirely black along with the exposed skin of her arms and legs. Sakura was keenly aware that if she was able to look at Moegi in daylight that more than likely the girl would have been completely red. She let her eyes trail up to her face. Moegi's jaw was completely disconnected from her skull. It swayed with her movement as it hung almost down to her chest. On the left side of her face, there was a gaping hole that ran under her eye down to her hanging jaw. Light blue highlights flashed, while she attempted to chatter her teeth, as the pieces of the shattered jaw bounced in and out of the mutilated skin. Her tongue, bathed in the dark stain of blood, rolled from side to side and her head jerked up and down as she looked at Sakura with a menacing eagerness. Sakura couldn't help it, her hands began to form tight fists as her blood began to race. The tiredness that she felt just moments ago began to dissolve as a flood of anger began rolling over her.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" She screamed at her two fallen comrades. "HOW MANY FRIENDS DO I HAVE TO KILL!?" She screamed, not necessarily to them, just at them. Her breath hiccuped as she said in a broken whisper "it hurts". The infected teen's movement ceased as their milky eyes stared at her. They looked surprised at the sudden outburst and the look they had on their faces made Sakura feel a strange mix of sorrow and rage. In her chest, it felt as if there were wild rapids whirling violently in her.

Tightening her lips she stared at them. These two... These two were like siblings to her now. After the war, Konohamaru was constantly around team seven. He was like an annoying little pest that wouldn't go away, but she had grown fond of him. It was much like the fondness that she had for Naruto. And wherever Konohamaru went, his team was sure to follow. All three said that they would take the title of the new Sannin's from them. Moegi had even started to train under her. Now... Now she was going to have to kill them.

They stood still for a few moments staring at each other. For those brief seconds, Sakura held on to the small hope that they wouldn't attack, that they would just stumble on by. Of course, that was a pipedream. Without so much as a warning suddenly Konohamaru and Moegi were running at her. Their movements were no longer jerky, but that of a trained shinobi. Sakura crouched lower as the two began to flank her to attack from the sides. Quickly pulling out her kunai she threw one from each hand. They didn't hit but they did cause enough of an obstacle that they were now unable to strike at the same moment. Konohamaru was the first to reach her. That wasn't a surprise, he was always the quickest on his team. Just as he was about to reach out for her she landed a blow to his stomach. The kick was nowhere near as strong as she would like it. She didn't let herself use chakra at all. Though the force was enough to have him stumble back a few feet.

Once he had fallen back she turned her attention to Moegi, but what she saw, she didn't expect. She had thought that they were flanking her so that they could both deliver blows simultaneously. From what she saw with the infected they just struck, there didn't seem to be much strategy with them.

She was wrong. As she was dealing with Konohamaru, Moegi had her sights set on Sai. Sakura growled as she lunged at Moegi as she was diving for the sleeping form of Sai. Their bodies collided and hit the ground with a thunk. Sakura quickly tried to get the advantage on Moegi by flipping her to her back. The younger girl fought against her grip as they rolled over each other. The sour breath poured out of Moegi as she grunted and growled at Sakura as she attempted to fight her off.

Once they came to a stop Sakura quickly looked over to Sai to see Konohamaru quickly approaching him. Cursing under her breath she scrambled to her feet giving Moegi a swift kick to the head. Her red pigtails whipped violently in her face as her head snapped from the force of the blow. Sakura hoped that it broke her neck, but was almost positive that it didn't. Not even checking to see if Moegi was alive or dead, she set upon Konohamaru.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM!" She bellowed as she rushed into the boy shoulder checking him. The hit had him thrown into the darkness. She thought that he must have hit a tree a few meters away as the air was filled with a sharp crack. She heard him hit but didn't look to see where he had landed, instead she quickly scanned Sai's body. He seemed fine, she knew that she could not guarantee it but it didn't look like he had any fresh wounds. Darting her eyes she looked to where she had left Moegi. The girl was beginning to stand up, her brows furrowed low glaring at her as a growl gurgled through her gaping jaw. Sakura carefully stepped over Sai to once again stand over him. This was going to be more difficult than it should be. How was she suppose to fight when she couldn't use her chakra and had to stand over Sai? For the first time in her whole life, it felt that using chakra was more of a handicap then and advantage.

Everything moved too quickly. She didn't have time to formulate a plan. Konohamaru and Moegi just kept coming at her and Sai without a break. All she could do was to keep pushing them back, but it was going nowhere. There was no way that she could leave Sai unprotected, all it took was one bite from them and then it was over. Well, maybe not over but she really really didn't want to have to amputate anything else from him.

As they kept trying to take her over, she began to unleash a series of aerial weapons, but even when they met their mark and sunk into the skin, it didn't stop them. They moved as if a leaf had blown into their bodies, not that there were weapons sticking out of them. She gritted her teeth as once again Moegi came rushing at her. All along the girl's shoulders and arms kunai stuck out like the quills of a porcupine. Sakura reached down into her hip pouch to retrieve another weapon but found that she no longer had any blades left. What she felt under her fingers instead was the long straight needle of a senbon. She sighed as she took one out. How was this suppose to do any damage when not even a kunai stopped them?

Sakura pulled the needle weapon out and was just about to throw it when she heard a noise that made her hair stand on end. The air was filled with the whistling grinding noise, that at one point would have comforted her. Not now. No. Not at all. She quickly whipped her head in the direction of the noise to see Konohamaru creating a ball of energy in his hand. The moment she saw it she was cursing Naruto.

Sakura turned her attention back to Moegi who was closer to them and looked into her mutilated face. That's when she knew that she wasn't fighting correctly. No, she was fighting them as if she could let both survive. There wasn't anything she had to move quickly for. It wasn't like killing Shizune, were Tsunade was telling her what to do. It wasn't like killing Ino when she was well aware that there was a literal ticking time bomb counting down. Was she thinking that maybe they would stop? Was she thinking they would magically get better? She didn't know, but since they had begun to use chakra, she had to end this quickly. She had to be brutal and just finish it. She could feel her mind clearing as she knew what had to be done.

She scooped her hand back into her weapon pouch and pulled out another senbon. She couldn't leave Sai, but perhaps if Moegi couldn't see it would give her enough time to deal with Konohamaru. Narrowing her eyes she let a senbon fly, which was quickly followed by another. Each weapon had embedded itself right where she wanted them. Steel clashed with the orbs of Moegi's eyes with a sharp popping noise. It was soon followed by gurgles of rage as Moegi's hands went quickly to her eyes. In her haste, Moegi accidently pushed the senbons in further before she attempted to pull them out. Sakura took the momentary distraction and jumped through the air to kick the young girl in the chest. Both of her feet made contact as she threw Moegi back a few dozen meters.

"That should give me time," she muttered before turning to Konohamaru who was mere feet away from Sai and approaching quickly with his wind. She began to rush towards the two. She had to use chakra. She would use chakra, dispatch them and quickly move Sai. She had enough to take care of this. All she needed was two good shots. She kept on running quickly pushing chakra into her feet. Just as Konohamaru was winding back preparing to shove his Rasengan into Sai, she wound back her own fist to slam it into Konohamaru's jaw. It met the flesh with a loud crack as he was thrown into the shadow of the trees. That had to have snapped his neck, she thought to herself as she watched his body get engulfed into the shadows. There was a large crack as his body collided with an another tree. There was no way someone could have lived through that.

She stood and turned to where she had thrown Moegi. Now was the time to finish the girl off. She looked up to her and heard her gurgling growling. The pigtails that had once withstood gravity lay limply to the sides of her head. Sakura looked at her face that was light with the moonlight. Both senbons were still embedded in the eyes, but now there was one orb that was hanging out, the optic nerve taut with the weight it was supporting as the eyeball swung back and forward like a pendulum, with the tip of the senbon dangling from it. Moegi stood there taking deep breaths of air as she searched for a scent. Gurgling noises followed as she released the intake as it passed through her mouth. Sakura stood there for a few moments watching her. She was smelling out chakra... How could that be? Chakra had no odor, not unless it was used with an element.

Sakura tested her theory as she began to gather chakra into her fists. Almost instantly the girl turned towards her, breathing in harder. Sakura pushed a bit more. That was enough to have Moegi rushing to her. She definitely smelled it. But how? How was it possible? Shaking her head she pushed the thought out of her mind. That was something to think about once her and Sai were safe. Now was the time to get rid of the threats. So with that thought, she rushed to Moegi and landed one chakra filled punch to the bridge of her opponent's nose.

Her hand went into Moegi's skull with a crunch. Sakura closed her eyes as she felt the warm spray of blood hit her face as she carved in Moegi's skull. Sakura cringed as the warmth of blood and brains gushed around the sides of her fist as it was pushed all the way to the back of Moegi's head. Immediately the girl's body went limp taking Sakura down with her. Sakura girl fell to her knees, her hand still embedded in the young girl's face, and panted.

It was over.

They were both gone. Slowly she withdrew from the head cavity, a wet suction noise following her movement. Once her hand was freed she slowly opened her eyes and looked down at the damage she had inflicted. Her friend no longer represented a human. Instead, her head looked like that of a rotten melon that had caved in upon itself. The brains in scrambled pieces falling to the side. Eyes no longer visible, but Sakura could still see the glinting metal of a senbon wedged in.

"I am sorry," the words fell softly from her mouth as she ran a hand over the girl's hair. "I will fix this," her voice came out stronger as she looked down with resolve. She stood and let out a sigh of relief. All she needed to do was to get Sai and find shelter. Wearily she turned her body to the direction of her slumbering comrade. Her muscles instantly coiled as she turned to see Konohamaru crawling to Sai. Her stomach tightened as the boy was a mere foot away. How in the hell was he still alive? Not taking one more second to think she pushed chakra to her feet and ran towards the broken boys. She got there just as Konohamaru was about to reach out. Sakura quickly grabbed onto his ankle. Using her chakra pulling him from the ground, and swung him quickly until his head collided with the trunk of a tree. His life ended with a pop as his head exploded on impact. Once more warm blood sprayed against Sakura. Letting go of his ankle, the rest of Konohamaru's body fell onto the ground of the forest.

She didn't take the time to apologize to him, instead, she began to rush back to Sai. She was almost positive that she had got to them in time, but she didn't want to take the chance of not checking him. She didn't complete her task, though. She had only taken a step towards Sai when suddenly something wrapped itself around her wrist. Quickly her arms were pulled behind her back, then she was pulled to the ground with such force that she was slammed to her knees. She ground her teeth as her back arched and her hands were forced to the forest floor behind her.

"Are you kidding me?!" She yelled as she tried to pull against her restraints. They didn't budge, maybe if she used chakra, but she had used enough during the fight and healing Sai. Her chest heaved in anger as she tried once again to free herself. Giving up on the restraints for a moment she furiously looked around the open space. If this was an infected person she was going to scream. But there was no sound of leaves under a foot, no twigs snapping. The whole area remained deathly silent as she skimmed what she could around her. No noise. This probably meant that it wasn't one of them. Granted she was just exposed to them, but in the fights today there wasn't a time when they were silent. The didn't seem to bother with stealth. This must be a shinobi who wasn't affected. "Who's out there?" She demanded as she kept her eyes roaming. She wasn't sure what was binding her, she wasn't sure who's jutsu this could be. Ally or Enemy?

"Sakura?" A voice questioned through the darkness. A VOICE! None of them seemed to be able to talk. This must be an ally. She also knew the voice that was calling to her. The sound of her name had all her muscles relax. Well, as much was possible in the current position that she was in.

"Yamato?" The question came out with a small laugh. The laugh wasn't from any humor that she found in her situation, but one of utter relief. Suddenly the man appeared before her. His dark eyes wide as he looked at her then to the area around her.

"What is going on here?" He asked as he looked from Moegi's carcass to the remains of Konohamaru, then finally to Sai. "What have you done?" He questioned as he snapped his attention to her.

"You need to let me go. We need to get out of here. We need to find some sort of cave or something," she said as she struggled once again with the restraints. "I can explain everything once we get out of here," she stopped struggling and narrowed her eyes at him. Stupid. She never even made sure that he wasn't infected. There was an incubation period. "Has anyone bit you?" She asked as she scanned his body.

"What?" His eyes grew wide for a moment as his head tilted back.

"Bit," she snarled at him as her patience was beginning to wear thin. Her brow rose as she looked at him with a frown waiting for the answer. Quickly he shook his head then glared back down at her.

"No," His tone was stern as his face became flat. "What happened here? Who are they?" He asked as he gestured to the three laying on the ground. Sakura followed the movement of his hand and ground her teeth as she looked to her fallen comrades.

"Konohamaru and Moegi," she said softly keeping her eyes on the sandals that were covering Konohamaru's feet. When did he start wearing black instead of blue? She mindlessly wondered. At that though she knew she was beginning to unravel. Besides her, there was hiss of breath as the names fell from her mouth.

"You... You... You killed Konohamaru, Moegi, and Sai?" His words were laced with utter disbelief. Quickly she snapped her head to look up at him. He looked down at her with horror twisting his features.

"No!" She yelled at him. "Not Sai! I saved Sai! We have to get out of here so I can get him safe!" Yamato's lips pursed as his brows drew down. He shook his head keeping his eyes glued to her face.

"No. No, we have to get back to Konoha. I have to get you back, then we'll figure this out," it seemed that his words were meant to be strong, but confusion was thick on every one. Sakura began to struggle once more. They had to move and they couldn't go back.

"There isn't a Konoha to go back to!" She yelled as she tried to pull her arms up again. The vines that had bound her were digging into her skin. She looked back up at him to see him staring at her with that blank face again. "IT'S GONE!" she growled at him. "There is nothing to go back to, I know you had to feel the earth rumble. That was because the Leaf was destroyed. Tsunade burnt it to the ground." The bite in her words softened as she looked up. "Yamato, please. We can't go back but we need to get out of here. Please.. You can leave me bound, but I need to get Sai to some type of shelter. I need to get him somewhere warm, he might be going into hypothermic shock. Please. Please. Please, Yamato, help me," She began to cry as she sunk back. Breaking. She knew that she was finally breaking. Everything that had happened on that horrid day was beginning to catch up with her. She tried to stay strong, but now it was as if she was a twig, snapping easily. She tried to shake her head to stop the flow of tears that were beginning to spill from her eyes, but it didn't help. There was no way she could dam them up. Sighing, she looked back up to Yamato. Her lids were filled with liquid that distorted his face so that she couldn't read the expression. She fought to keep her breath steady. Please, just a little longer she pleaded internally. A little longer, just until they were somewhat safe.

Slowly she felt the vines began to retract from her wrists. That was enough let her calm down, making her able to push her emotions down again. The moment that she was free she leaned forward with a sigh and closed her eyes tight. "I... I... Don't know that I believe you. But, you have never lied to me before. Sakura, I just, I just don't understand. But if what you are saying about Sai is the truth, then we need to tend to him." Slowly she opened her eyes and looked up. She wanted to smile, she wanted just to lie down and sleep. She pushed all that to the side as she wearily pulled herself up and stood in front of him. She nodded her head and began to turn to Sai. How was she going to move him? Everything in her protested as she bent down and attempted to pick him up without the use of her chakra.

Heavy. He was so heavy as she hoisted him up. She turned her body to look back at Yamato, who was looking at her cautiously. "Do you know where there are any caves around here? I wasn't paying much attention to where I was running," She said as she grunted to repositioned Sai's weight against her.

"Why aren't you using your chakra?" He asked as watched her struggle. She sighed as she closed her eyes. Her lids felt as if they weight a hundred pounds each as the exhaustion was catching up.

"We can't. So please don't use yours either. I already told you that I promised I would explain it all. We need to focus on finding some place to go right now," she replied as she turned to his direction. "Do you know of somewhere around here that has shelter? It doesn't have to be a cave, just something. It would be nice if you could just jutsu a house, but like I said we really can't use chakra." Yamato stood there and watched her carefully before sighing and looking around the area. His lips pursed as he looked into the sky and scanned around once more.

"I am pretty sure that there are some caverns to the east of us about a mile away," he said as he pointed in the direction of the shelter. Sakura followed where his finger pointed then looked back to him, she gave him a curt nod before turning and started to walk to the destination.

It was more difficult than she expected, carrying Sai. He was heavier than she thought and not having the use of her chakra was taking a toll. She had never really thought about how much she depended on it. Her chakra was alway there for her. From healing a wounded comrade to picking up the couch to vacuum under it. Not being able to access it as freely as she wished was like having someone cut off her arm. She kept going, though. She didn't have a choice but to drag Sai and get him to safety. Behind her, she could hear the soft steps of Yamato. If this was a normal mission she would have strained to make some type of small talk to help pass the time. At the moment she had no interest in talking. She just wanted to get to the cave, situate Sai and fall asleep.

"Here let me take him." Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin as she felt the large hand of Yamato land on her shoulder bringing her to a halt. She turned her head to see him blankly looking at her. It was a blank look that every shinobi that had been in ANBU had mastered. She hated the look. "You look exhausted. I can take him. We'll get there faster," He said flatly as he released her shoulder. All she could do was nod at him as she turned her body so that the man could have better access to Sai.

The moment Sai's weight was taken from her she let out a relieved sigh. She didn't notice, but her back was becoming stiff and sore as she had been holding him at an unnatural angle. Her hand went up to her neck and shoulder as she began to rub out the tight knots that had formed. Even though she was no longer hauling the dead weight of Sai, she continued to walk at a slow pace. Yamato was right, she was exhausted. She really should not have been, she had fought in battles and in wars that went on for days. She knew that it was the emotional stress that was taking its' toll on her. Without a word she let Yamato take the lead as she stumbled behind them. It was only a mile or so, and even if they weren't running they would be there soon.

It took only twenty minutes for them to find a cave that had enough room for the three of them. The moment she walked in she just wanted to fall to her knees, but she resisted the urge. There was more to do before she could claim any rest. Sakura watched as Yamato gingerly placed Sai down on the ground. After she was sure that he was in a proper position she began to go through her bag.

"You mind gathering some wood? I'll get Sai all set then make the pit. It's important that we keep him warm for a while," she asked Yamato not even bothering to look up. She heard him grunt then the footfall of sandals on rock. Pulling out the thermal blankets that she carried, she wedged one under Sai, then placed one on top of him. That would have to do, there wasn't much else she could do to ensure his warmth beside using blankets. She had thought that perhaps she should clean him off first, but the temperature was dropping quickly and she didn't want to chance him getting the chills.

She ran her hand over his forehead. He was warmer than she would like, there was also a thin sheen of moisture that made his skin slick. She stared at him for a moment, his features were difficult to make out in the deep darkness of the cavern. Though light highlights appeared along his nose and forehead. She sat there staring at him trying to make the best treatment plan possible. He should receive antibiotics and painkillers. She did have both in her rucksack, but not nearly enough for something of this magnitude. No, what she carried was basically good for a small infection. Though, she did have some grade A narcotics for pain. She breathed in as she as she fished through her bag attempting to find the bottle by touch. She was almost sure that she gathered the right ones and gave them a light shake. It sounded as if each only contained a few pills. It was all she had, she would need more, but she would have to make due. Opening the bottles she poured some from each onto the lids. She didn't want her soiled skin making contact with them. She wasn't sure how contagious this virus was, or how long it could live outside a host. Carefully she places the bottles next to her sack, reminding herself that she would need to sanitize them when she could see better. Once she placed them down she shuffled her body to the side of Sai. Placing her fingers on his chin she gently she pried opened his mouth and poured the pills into it. She hated to try and give an unconscious person pills. Though, it was a better option than attempting to wake him up. He still didn't understand what happened. All Sai would know is that she killed Ino and took his leg off. Just as she was massaging Sai's neck to get a reflexive swallow Yamato walked into the cave with an armful of wood.

"Sorry, I didn't get to make the pit yet. Give me a moment." She said softly. It only took two attempts before she could feel Sai's throat muscles move letting her know that he had swallowed. Once again she opened his mouth and tried to look in it. She didn't want to have to fish her fingers in it, not with all the dirt and blood on them. Once she was sure that he had ingested the pills she stood up and scavenged for small rocks to make the barrier to the fire. She could feel Yamato's eyes on her every movement but didn't bother to look up. She didn't want to look up at him, she didn't want to see the fucking blank face again.

Once she set the stones into a circle is when she finally made eye contact with Yamato. She didn't say anything just raised her brow. He nodded to her then proceeded to place the wood in the pit as she went through her sack to retrieve her flint and some lint that she used as kindle. Once more she was avoiding eye contact with him as she pushed the kindle under the wood. She picked up her pieces of flint and attempted to get a spark.

There was a problem, though. Her hands had suddenly begun to shake. She couldn't get them steady. She tried to strike the stoned off of each other, but her angles were off and the spark were landing nowhere near their intended target. She tried to internally yell at her body, she screamed in her mind to get a grip but the shaking just became worse. She had hit her wall.

Large hands covered hers as she attempted to bring the stones together once more. She breathed out as his grip tightened over hers. Her hands relaxed in his grip. As she did he took the stones from her hand. Closing her eyes she moved away until her back hit a wall. It was a small space so it only took her a moment to crawl back. Her shoulders slumped as she let the wall bear all of her weight. She moved so that her legs were stretched out in front of her. There she sat silently as she watched the sparks of the stone fill the area with a flash of light.

It only took Yamato a few tries before he was able to light the lint. Closing her eyes again he listened as he blew on the small flame to encourage its growth. She could tell the moment the fire took to the wood as the smell of a campfire filled their small shelter. A few moments later the crackling and popping sound confirmed that the fire was greedily burning away at the wood. She sat there with her eyes still closed and only focused on the fire and the noises around her. She didn't want to think. She just wanted to sit there. She heard Yamato move around the cave for a moment. It didn't last long, though. Sakura figured he had found a place to rest. So she sat there for a few long moments before slowly opening her eyes.

Directly across from her sat Yamato. His eyes were narrowed as he stared at her figure. Normally such scrutiny would have had her blushing, but she really couldn't bring herself to care at the way he was looking at her. Sighing she took her eyes off of him and let them land on her hands that rested in her lap. They were completely red, and a few pieces of Moegi's flesh and hair hung from them. She cringed as she thought that her hands handled Sai's medication. A soft cough from the other side of the cave brought her attention back to Yamato.

"Sakura, what happened?" Yamato asked slowly keeping his intense gaze on her. Sakura sighed before she swallowed thickly. She opened her mouth only to have no words come out. Instead, a sob escaped as her eyes were flooded with tears. She shut her mouth in hopes of regaining control. It didn't work, instead, the sobs came out stronger as the tears flowed from her cheeks like streams. She bowed her head down not able to look at Yamato in such a state. She sat there as wretched sobs rang through her, as the pain of the day began crashing down like a lightening bolt. She was sure that she sounded like a wounded animal that was dying, but she couldn't stop. Her lungs burned from not being able to properly breathe and her stomach twisted in a manner that made her feel like she was going to vomit. The worst feeling was it felt as if her chest was cracking. This was heartbreak. This was heartbreak beyond comprehension. The day that Sasuke left when she was younger she thought she knew the feeling, but that was nothing compared to what she was feeling now. She wanted to die again. She wanted this pain to end. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare. She wanted Ino. She wanted Tsunade. She wanted a home. She just wanted to go home.

Big hands covered hers once more as she slowly looked up to Yamato. His face was no longer stoic, but he looked at her with worry and despair. She shook her head as he applied more pressure. "It's gone. It's all gone," she hiccuped as her hands went into fists under his. She then forced herself to fight through the sobs and hiccups as she told him just what had become of their home.


	4. Chapter 4

Sakura woke but didn't open her eyes. She also willfully kept her breathing in the same manner of someone that was slumbering. She didn't want to move because she was warm, and it was nice. Not like what she had been through recently. She didn't feel the numbing cold that she had felt the day before. It wasn't that she didn't remember. No, she didn't wake up with confusion or temporary memory loss. When she woke up she was fully alert and remembered everything. But, if she didn't open her eyes she could remain as if she didn't remember. So that is what she did. She sat still, curled against Yamato feeling his warmth and his chest moving slowly under her as he breathed. There was a faint smell of pine on him mixed with his body odor, it wasn't unpleasant. She was sure that she smelled much worse. He didn't complain though when he gathered her to him while she was in hysterics the night before. He just held onto her until she had finally succumbed to exhaustion.

She wasn't even sure if he was awake, but if he didn't make the first move she was just going to sit there. The moment was much too short for her liking, though, as he moved his arm from her slowly. The warmth that he had been sharing evaporating rapidly.

"Sakura," he whispered as he moved his body. No, she didn't want to get up. Not yet. She didn't want to face the hell of a world again. She didn't want to face Sai, but he couldn't hear her silent pleas as he moved a little more. "I know you are awake," he sighed. She pushed her shut eyelids harder before she let out a sigh of her own. He wouldn't let her pretend any longer. So with a groan, she pushed away from him, still sitting against the wall of the cave and slowly opened her eyes.

She blinked a few times adjusting to the light that was falling in through the mouth of the cavern. When she was able to focus the first thing that she saw was her hands in her lap. They were a flaking crimson red mixed with burnt brown. She frowned at the sight of them. Had she really slept in such a state? She flexed her fingers and felt her skin being pulled as the dried blood tightened then cracked with the movement, blackening red particles fell to her lap with each movement. It was disgusting.

"Are you doing okay?" Yamato asked slowly and carefully. She blinked groggily as she looked at the nervous man. His brows were furrowed and his mouth was pulled into a small frown as he looked to her. She was grateful that he had lost the stoic look of ANBU.

"Doing as okay as I can," she sighed as she rested her head against the cool rock behind her. She rolled her eyes to the other side of her so that she could see Sai who was deeper in the cave. She couldn't see his face from the angle that she was sitting just the outline of his body that looked like a roll of charcoal. She watched as the blanket shuddered for a moment then went became still again. She needed to check up on him again. With that thought, she looked back down at her hands. She really shouldn't touch him while she was so filthy.

Yamato suddenly moved and it caused her to look up at him as he stood. He stretched for a moment then proceeded to check the pouches on his uniform.

"Sakura, I need to go," he said softly not even looking at her. She raised a brow at the statement. Though, she knew what he was saying.

"You need to see it?" she questioned softly as she looked down at her lap, this time not focusing on her hands but at the state of her clothes. They were stained the brown of dried blood. She wondered briefly what all of her looked like. Yamato grunted as he adjusted his thigh pouch.

"It... It... it isn't that I don't believe you," He lamented. "It's just that I know if I don't go look, I don't think I will ever really be able to believe it." She nodded her head looking down. She got it. If she were in his position she was sure that she would be doing the same thing. Hell, even now there was a part of her that wanted to go with. She hadn't seen the aftermath and it still didn't feel real. Then again, another part of her was screaming that there was no way she needed to witness that. Just leaving the village like she did was traumatic enough. She didn't need to see it burnt, to view the scorched remains of Konoha. There was no need. Because the wreckage wasn't going to be rebuilt this time. She moved her head slowly to Sai once more. Even if she wanted to go, she couldn't. She couldn't leave Sai like this.

"I understand," the words were flat as they left her lips and she didn't take her eyes off of Sai. "Could you just hurry? I don't know what he's going to be like once he wakes, you know?" she tiredly moved her head to see Yamato was also looking at Sai before he glanced back at Sakura and gave her a curt nod. He took a few steps toward her and crouched down so he was eye-level with her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It will all be fine, we'll get through this," his words were gentle as he gave her shoulder a squeeze. She knew that she was staring at him with no emotion on her face. She couldn't bring herself to accept what he said but she didn't want to tell him that he was wrong. She was too tired to fight. To tell him she knew that nothing will ever be fine again. That she doubted she could get through this if yesterday was a glimpse at what life she had ahead of her. Instead, she nodded to him. Yamato sighed as he stood keeping his eyes trained on her. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he murmured quietly before he turned and left the cave.

She watched as he disappeared from the mouth of the cave. She didn't move her eyes once he wasn't in sight any longer, instead, she kept her eyes glued on the outside world. It should be raining. That was the thought she had as she looked at the scenery. It wasn't though. It was a beautiful day. The sky was bright blue and speckled with fluffy clouds. The trees swayed slowly in the spring breeze, birds chirped and sang their songs. It was the complete opposite of how she felt. She wanted it to be dark, gray and miserable. Though, the nice weather did mean that it would be easier to keep Sai warm. She exhaled loudly as she turned her head to look at him. She really did need to check up on him.

She didn't move. Or was it she couldn't? She wasn't sure which it was. She looked back down at her hands. She should have asked Yamato to wait so that she could have washed. Too late for that now. Sighing she finally pushed herself as she turned to her side bag and began to dig through it to try and find something to clean her hands. First, she pulled out her canteen. She gave it a small shake and sighed when no noise came from it. It was empty. She forgot that she used it last night before she took Sai's leg. She frowned as she put it to the side. Next, her fingers met cool porcelain. She pulled out the ANBU mask and cringed. It cracked as it lifted from the bag. Great. She thought to herself. Here she was trying to keep it for Kakashi and the first day that is was in her possession she busts it. Cursing under her breath, she put the top part of the mask next to her and scooped out the bottom part. It had cracked right under the right ear and went diagonally through the rest. Maybe she could fix it, she pondered as she turned it in her hand. Shaking her head she put it to the side. It wasn't important right now. She then pulled out Naruto's green frog purse and placed it next to the broken mask. Next out was the forehead guards she has pulled from her house, Naruto's and Kakashi's. She also retrieved the files that Tsunade had given her. She should be reading them, she should be trying to figure out what was happening, but she couldn't bring herself to open them at the moment. She was running away from it mentally and she knew it. She was weak, she didn't want to fight with herself so she just accepted the thought. She placed the file next to the small pile she had accumulated.

Once she reached the bottom of her bag she riffled through it. She could have sworn that she had alcohol pads in there somewhere. She knew that they wouldn't help much against the dirt and grime that was on her hands but it was better than nothing.

Three. She had three tiny squares. She frowned at the small packages. What the hell was she suppose to clean with those? Sighing she threw one pack to the side. If anything she had to wipe down the medicine bottles. She ripped open the first package and began to wipe down the tips of her fingers.

She was right. They didn't do much, but at least the tips and pads of her fingers were somewhat clean. She took a moment to run the soiled swab around the beds of her nails. The red stain on her nails refused to come up. Giving up after only a few moments she then reached for the last pack ripped it open and wiped down the bottles. Once she was finished she looked to Sai. Just go and do it, she thought to herself as she stood. She prayed that he didn't wake up. It was selfish, but she didn't want to deal with the fall out with him. Not now. Hell, not ever. She knew it was going to come. Just hopefully not at that moment.

She shuffled through the cave and crouched over his body. She looked at his face as she pulled the blanket down. The first thing she noticed was he was much cleaner than she had been, only a few smears of blood here and there. Though, that was to be expected. He wasn't the one that went sliding through a kitchen full of blood, then violently took out two children. She shook her head. She couldn't think of that right now. Plus, she had no choice, she reminded herself. If she didn't kill them then both of them would have died or become infected like them. Squaring her shoulders and clearing her head she began to give him a check up. The first thing she did was to swipe her fingers over the skin of his forehead. It was damp with perspiration but it didn't seem to be feverish as it was the night before. She then moved to press her finger against his pulse point. She let out a relieved breath when she felt it was strong and right in the optimal range. She pulled the blanket up then moved down to his leg.

It was gruesome. There was no other word that could describe his stump. If he had this done at a hospital it would have been neatly stitched together. Instead, she could see all the burnt muscles and bones. It wasn't going to be pretty even when it healed, but the most she could do for him was to keep it clean and make sure that there wasn't any infection setting in, her second fear was the necrosis if the irrigation of blood wasn't right and third the unavoidable pain he would feel in the coming months. She pulled the cloth of his black pants away and searched for any red lines indicating infection. She frowned as she inspected it. It was probably going to hurt like hell when he woke up but right now it looked good. Well, as good as it was going to be after how she took it off. She moved back to her stash of items and pulled out the antibiotic and pain killers holding the container to the light she counted the contents. Three days. Three days was as long as they could be stagnant. After that she would have just enough antibiotics to get to Suna. Unless they were able to find a village with a doctor.

Carefully she opened the containers to make sure that her soiled skin didn't touch and poured out the pills on the cap. Once she had the correct dosage she turned her attention back to Sai. She slowly opened his mouth once more. It occurred to her that with an IV It would be so much easier. "if only I had one," she grumbled. The priority now was making sure that she had a traveling scroll filled with them once she was able to find them. All the ones that she had carried had been used on the children of the Mist. She didn't even think to restock. Not that there was time.

She poured the pills into his mouth and closed it gently. She reached out and rubbed his trachea to encourage him to swallow. She felt the bob of his Adam apple but then his eyes flew open and before she was able to say anything to him, he reached out and wrapped his fingers around her throat.

She was too shocked by the sudden movement to do anything. In a flash, both of his hands were squeezing her neck. He shoved her down onto her back. She wheezed and tried to push back, but she still knew not to use her chakra. She saw his face wince as he straddled her but for the most part it was just twisted in rage. He must have hit his leg during his rushed movements.

"You killed her," he growled out. Spit was flying from his lips and landing on her face. She stared up at him with wide eyes as she tapped his shoulders trying to get him to snap out of it. It was in vain though, because he wouldn't and she knew he wouldn't. The rage that was marring his face was something that she had never experienced. His black eyes wide and wild as he started into her. She tried to wheeze, but his fingers were digging tighter into her. Her head began to pound as the oxygen was blocked to her brain, black dots pulsed in her eyesight. She bucked her hips up but it was as if he was made of stone. His muscles tightly coiled and not responding to any movement she made. Nothing she could do would get him off. If she didn't use chakra she was going to die.

For a brief second, she contemplated letting him do it. It would be easier this way for her. She wouldn't have to worry about a thing after and Sai would get his revenge. He should have his revenge. She could feel that her hands were getting heavier as the black spots began to grow.

DON'T BE SUCH A FUCKING COWARD! Something screamed at her in her mind. She blinked quickly as she looked up to Sai. He had his teeth bared, his nose was flared while his brows were drawn all the way down. He was panting heavily, his breath warm and moist as it hit her skin. He looked like Ino had. He looked like a monster. Pure hate clouding his features. Like a monster she had mentally promised Ino he wouldn't be. An urgent burst of energy consumed her as she again tried to push him away. She had also begun cycling her chakra, but it was moving at too slow of a pace. She was moving too slow. Oh, gods. Sai really was going to kill her.

Before she even had a chance to release it, suddenly Sai was knocked off of her. She couldn't hear anything as she took in a deep breath and coughed in release. The blood was pulsing in her ears loudly. Sounding like the unruly tides of an angry ocean. She rolled to her side coughing and pulled her knees up into her chest as she felt the tears begin to roll from her eyes. She didn't even try to stop them. She knew her body needed to react from the trauma it went through. Her heart pounded in her chest and in her skull as she closed her eyes.

"SHE FUCKING KILLED HER!" Sakura could hear Sai bellow behind her. Her eyes burned as even more tears began to roll from them. "SHE KILLED INO!" Each breath she took burnt her throat, and now that she was sobbing, it was as if a fire was filling her aching lungs.

"STOP!" Yamato yelled. She could barely hear them scuffling as she wheezed.

"She killed Ino! Ino and the baby are dead!" Sai roared. There were more sounds of a fight, but she couldn't bring herself to look at them. No, she just clutched onto her knees as pulled them in tighter. She should have just let him kill her. "You weren't there! You didn't see!" Sai's voice became weaker as he spoke. It sounded as if he could be on the verge of a sob also.

"I wasn't there," Yamato growled. "But I WAS there when she pulled you over a mile to get you to safety. I was there after she fought to protect you! I was there as she took care of you! Think for a moment Sai! Do you really think that Sakura would kill Ino for no reason!" The sounds of the brawl began to dim as she heard a groan followed by a sob. "You need to calm down," Yamato spoke gently. "There is a lot that has happened. Are you okay?." Sai didn't respond his gasping breath weak in the aftermath of the struggle, but he must have made some type of movement that appeased Yamato. She suddenly felt a warm hand on her shoulder that made her jump and had her squeezing her eyes shut.

"Sakura?" Yamato said softly as he pulled her shoulder. She allowed him to move her because she just didn't have the energy to fight him. So with his gentle pull, she rolled onto her back. He hissed as he looked down to her neck. "You are going to want to heal that," he said gently as he ran a finger down her throat. The touch hurt making her swallow causing even more pain.

"C a n' t," she half croaked half wheezed. " a," she winced as the words passed her mouth. Yamato looked down at her with pursed lips. His eyes flickering from her neck to her eyes. He sighed as he sat back on his haunches.

"Are you going to be alright?" he asked in a stern tone. She took a deep breath that burned causing her to close her eyes but curtly nodded a sharp pain following the movement. Yamato sighed again and when she opened her eyes she saw him pulling his head gear off and running his hand through his short brown hair. "I don't know what to do here," he murmured as he looked down at her. "I don't know how to help righ..." she held up a hand and shook her head.

"No.. help... I'm... fine..." She managed to get past her lips. "Just.. need.. to... rest... vocal... cords... and... throat..." He furrowed his brow and nodded. He looked over his shoulder probably to Sai and expelled a breath.

"Well, are you good enough to get cleaned up?" He asked as he ran his hand over his jaw. She swallowed and nodded at the man. Fighting the wince at the movement. At that he raised a brow, no doubt trying to tell if she really was. "Okay," He said slowly. "There is a stream a little under a quarter of a mile from here. If you want to go freshen up. I'll take care of Sai," he pointed in the direction of the water. She blinked once and nodded before she gathered her bag and left.

She moved sluggishly as she walked through the forest. She wanted to just lay down... and what? sleep? die? She shook her head instantly regretting the movement. The surge of pain did help clear out the macabre thoughts that she was having. She couldn't give up. She couldn't. She fought her body to keep moving forward. Once she got to the water she looked down at her reflection. The first thing she did was cringe at the marks on her neck. Handprints that had already begun to darken showed in the water. She could only imagine what they really looked like since peering into a moving stream didn't provide the best reflection. By the way the bruises looked it would take weeks to fully heal and fade. She then looked to the rest of her. Her hair was in wild disarray, sticking up and clumping stiffly with blood in some areas. Most of her skin also reflected darkly due to the amount of dirt and blood that was on her.

She sighed as she scanned the area. She wished that she could use her chakra to double check, but she was just going to have to rely on her other five senses. It seemed that she was alone. All that she could hear was the babbling of the creek and birds chirping in the background. Uneasily she started to pull her clothing off of her. Everything on her was going to need a good wash and that included her undergarments. She just didn't want to be caught buck naked and off guard if someone was to come, but it was a risk that she was going to have to take.

Once she was down to nothing but her skin she gently walked into the water. Her muscles instantly tensing as it washed over her with an icy lick. It was to be expected though. It was spring and it would be chilly no matter what. She gently shivered as she lowered her body into the stream and watched as red bloomed from her body. She tried to make quick work of the cleaning, but there was just so much that it seemed as if it was taking forever. Not to mention her neck and head were still pounding from what Sai did.

When she thought that she got off all the grime, she quickly pulled herself from the frigid water and pulled out her extra outfit. Which happened to be her jonin uniform. She pulled her panties on and didn't bother with binding her chest as she began to pull the long sleeved shirt down. When she was fully dressed when she turned to the clothes that were lying in a heap by the river. It was going to be hard to salvage them but as of right now they were the only other change that she had. Not to mention she wanted to keep the green sweater at all costs. It was a gift from Tsunade on her last birthday. She knew it was supposed to be more of a gag gift than anything but she loved it. It looked just like the green cardigan with the kanji for gamble on the back that Tsunade had always worn. So she set to the job of scrubbing and beating the dirt and blood out.

Sighing as she leaned back from the stream she looked up to the sun the muscles in her neck radiating with a sharp pain. It was already past noon and she had spent the better part of two hours cleaning herself and her clothes. She looked down at the cloth that was in her hands. They didn't look new by any means. There were still stains that littered them, but they looked a hell of a lot better than they had.

She gathered her clothes and wrung them out. A frown pulled on her lips as she did so. Today, she was fucking laundering her clothes like nothing had happened. She was washing them as if this was a mission. It wasn't though. This wasn't a mission and there were many people that would never get to wash their clothes again. She almost snorted at the stupid thought. It was stupid to think of washing clothes when there are so many other things that they would miss out on. Love, laughter, watching children grow. No, she didn't think about that, she thought about washing. She really was losing it.

She slowly made her way back to the cave. Anxiety hitting her harder with every step. She wished she could just run away. She didn't want to see Sai. Not after everything that had happened. She could too. She could just turn around and run. She could leave Sai with Yamato. He would probably be happy about that. She grunted as she kicked a pinecone out of her way.

No- she decided running wasn't an option. She couldn't do that. She had to face him. They had to stay together. If something were to happen to them because she left she would never forgive herself. Once they found the rest of the refugees is when she would leave him. As much as she didn't want to face him, and as much as she knew he didn't want to see her they were both going to have to put it behind themselves.

She walked into the cave to see Sai was back to laying on the blankets she had put on him and Yamato was sitting against the wall of the cave. A small fire started in the pit they had built the prior evening. The wood user looked up to her with a raised brow then back to Sai.

"He's asleep," he said quietly. Good, she thought to herself. He needed the rest. Also, the drugs that she gave him would make him drowsy. She nodded to him before she began to lay out her clothing on the rocks that lined the opening of the space. "He opened his wound up when he.. you know. I bound it the best I could but I am no medic," Yamato said. She pursed her lips and gave another nod. Pain radiated again with the movement. This was the reason she couldn't leave. She sighed as she started to walk towards Sai. That was until she felt a hand dart out and wrap its fingers around her wrist. "Are you sure you are okay?" Yamato asked as he looked up at her with concerned eyes. She had to force herself to smile at him. The corners of her mouth twitching as she did. She raised her hand and signed to him in the sign language all Kohona shinobi used.

All clear. That was the closest that she could get to say that she was fine without using her voice. They stared at each other for a moment before she turned to take a look at Sai.

Slowly she pushed the blanket up and revealed his leg. It was redder and a little more swollen than before, but that was because what Yamato said was right. Amongst the burnt flesh there was a crack that was bright red and had a little plasma oozing from it. She swallowed a sigh as she looked at it. This was going to set back his recovery. Not uttering a word she dug in her bag and pulled out an antiseptic ointment. As gently as she could she rubbed it on the affected areas. Her body tensed as Sai grunted in his sleep and shifted slightly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Yamato was moving slowly closer to the two of them. She was grateful for the response. She had no wish to be caught under the painter's hands again.

He didn't wake up though, as she continued to tend to his wounds and wrap the remaining part of his leg. Once she was finished she looked to Yamato and tried to smile at him. He had done a good job with what he had done, but it set her at ease to double check it.

The rest of the day was spent in almost complete silence. Sure the birds could be heard and the wind whistled here and there, but for the most part, neither of them talked. Even if Sakura wanted to, she knew that forcing her voice may just prolong her healing. So she attempted to keep talking to a minimum. Though, to be honest it didn't help with the atmosphere or how she felt. Because she would give anything to just go out in a field and scream at the top of her lungs.

The next couple of days were no better. She was still struggling with talking. She thought that perhaps Sai had crushed her vocal cords, but without using her chakra to check she couldn't be sure. The one difference was Sai hadn't attempted to attack her. He did spend most of the time sleeping. Mainly due to the painkillers she kept giving him. When she had to attend his wound Yamato was always close by. The older man was also there to help cleaning up Sai or taking him to use the restroom. Sai also had not spoken a word to her since he attempted to strangle her. When he was lucid enough he would scowl at her or ignore her completely. The tension was constantly thick but they were surviving and it was miserable.

"We need to start moving," Sakura said after she gave Sai his round of antibiotics. "I have enough..." Shit. She looked back down in the pill bottle and counted them. Fuck! How the hell could she have gotten that wrong? How the hell did she miscalculate to this degree?

"What?" Yamato asked as he messed with the rabbit meat that was roasting on the fire. She looked at him with wide eyes and blinked for a moment.

"I don't have enough medication," she said weakly as she looked back to the bottle in her hand. "When I thought about how much I had and how long it would take to get to Suna, I made those calculations using chakra. I fucking forgot that we can't. It's going to take us three times as long to get there," her shoulders slumped as she leaned against the wall and slid down. She didn't look up to either man, not wanting to see their reactions to her mistake.

No one talked for a long moment. The only sound to be heard were birds chirping and the crackle and pop of the fire. Her stomach clenched as she stared at the bottle in her hand still in disbelief over the mistake. Yamato cleared his throat and she looked up to him.

"Well," He said slowly as he turned the rabbit carcass on the spit. "If we keep it dry and clean, that will lessen the likelihood of an infection right? And you have that ointment still," he said carefully. Yes, while that sounded good it really didn't bode well with her. What if he got an infection in the marrow of his bone. Deep infections are what she was using the antibiotic for, not for the superficial. Without the drugs, she figured it could go fifty-fifty. She knew that there had been people way back that had limbs amputated and lived long after, but she just felt better knowing that she was able to control the situation a little bit. It didn't matter though. There were no more pills left and she couldn't use chakra. She would have to chance it because there wasn't another option. She nodded her head lightly.

"Yeah," she mumbled hoarsely. Her voice still rough as she spoke. "We'll just have to keep an eye on it," she bit down into her lips as she tried to think if there was anything else she could do. Then it hit her. Herbs. What she should have been doing this whole time was gathering herbs. While they weren't as potent as the drugs from the hospital, they would do. "While we make our way though, we should keep a look out for some medicinal herbs." She looked to Yamato who nodded at her. She let her gaze fall on Sai. He was looking at her with a blank face. He didn't move or respond to her. She honestly wasn't even sure if he was looking at her or past her.

The next day they gathered the meager supplies that they had and left camp. Sakura was still nervous about making the trek without the medicine, but she didn't have a choice. Once they were prepared to leave Yamato helped Sai out of the cave. Both men stopped and stared at Sakura and the contraption she had made the night before.

"Ok, listen," she rasped. " I know it isn't pretty, but it will help us move faster and Sai won't have to get so tired." She said as she lifted her makeshift travois. She knew it wasn't visually appealing, but she had done her best. The sticks that served as poles were strong and the blankets she used from her pack should be somewhat comfortable.

"You want to just drag me along?" Sakura took a step back genuinely surprised that Sai was speaking to her. His voice was flat and his face was still stoic, but he actually spoke.

"Yeah," she nearly stuttered. "Just until you are better healed." She tried to keep eye contact but found herself looking to the ground. After a moment she heard someone sigh and looked up to see Yamato looking at her.

"It's smart. It will be easier on all of us that way," she saw the corner of his mouth lift to a lopsided smirk. Internally she was screaming thank you, but instead looked to Sai. Because it didn't matter what Yamato thought. If she couldn't get him in it, then it was all moot. He didn't respond to her. Only slightly nodded his head. That was enough to make her take in a deep breath. From there she positioned the stretcher and waited for Yamato to place Sai on it.

Walking took even longer then Sakura had expected. She really didn't think that dragging Sai along would make them move at an almost lethargic speed. It was fine though. He was safe on his stretcher and she knew that he wasn't straining himself. Slow was fine. Slow and steady. At least that is what she had to keep on telling herself.

On the first day, they had only managed to make it a little less than an eighth of the way there. They would probably have to account for at least two to three more days then she had thought. Which meant that Sai would have to go without medication that much longer.

She sighed as they made camp. It wasn't where she wanted. It really wasn't ideal. It was in the forest still, but they didn't have the shelter of a cave. They were open to all the elements and enemies. They didn't have a choice though. They were past areas that held caves and caverns. It would come down to her and Yamato taking shifts at night. Sai wouldn't be able to since the pain medication left him drowsy and not alert.

Sighing she stretched her shoulders once she had gently placed Sai down. He was sleeping and she didn't want to wake him. She looked over to Yamato who was beginning to gather what they needed to make a small fire. She frowned as she watched him gather the sticks around them.

"Hey," her voice still raspy, but now it sounded as if she was getting over a bad cold. Yamato stood from where he had been bent over to look at her. "There still is a little light. I think that it would be wise for me to go and see if there are any medicinal herbs in the area," she said as she rolled her shoulder to loosen the muscle. "You can set up camp right?"

"Yeah, it shouldn't be a problem," Yamato said with a nod. He then looked at Sai for a moment. "But don't go far, and don't go for long, please," he said as he turned his gaze to her. She nodded to him before she adjusted the strap of her pack on her shoulder.

The air was still moist in the area that they were in. It was filled with the scents of pine and earth. It was a soothing smell. At least to her it was. After walking for a few moments eyeing the ground she came to a large tree that had fallen over. The decaying bark was filled with mold, the earthy smell of decay hung onto it. She looked at the log and was pleased to see near the base clung the red tops of Ganoderma licidum. A mushroom. One that helped enhance the oxygenation of the blood. While it wasn't an antibiotic quality, it would aid in healing.

She crouched next to the tree and began to pull the fungus from the around the bark, that was until she saw something that made her fall back. When she had cleared some of the fungi there was a small finger twitching underneath. She hissed quietly as she got on her hands and knees to look under the trunk.

What she saw had her heart twisting in her chest. A small round face of a child peered out from under the tree. The eyes had the milky sheen to them as they looked at her with a wide expression. Sakura just gawked at the child for a moment, not able to form words. She couldn't tell if they were male or female. Long dark brown hair oil-slickened hung from their head. The skin was a shallow gray, the lips were beginning to blue. She blinked as the fingers began to reach out to her. Her first instinct was to pull them out from under, but she had to stop herself as she looked into their milky eye. They were infected. But at what stage?

"Can you speak?" Sakura asked softly. She watched the child with anticipation as their mouth slowly began to open. No words passed. No, there was a just a sighing wheeze that fell from those blue lips. The moment she heard the noises she let out a breath and her shoulders fell. This little one was gone. Though they weren't reacting as violently as the others, but that may be due to the fact that they were so young or maybe they had some serious injuries she couldn't see as most of their body looked to be pressed under the large trunk. She scanned the round face once more. No older than four. She closed her eyes as she felt as if concrete had been laid in her stomach.

A child.

A baby.

She was going to have to kill a child. Someone's baby. Someone who only had a glimpse at life. Logically she knew ending it would be better. Living like some type of monster wasn't a life, it was a mercy to put them down. But that thought didn't help her move her body.

Slowly with a shaky hand, she reached back to her weapon pouch and pulled out a kunai. One that she had just a few days ago used to battle with Moegi and Konohamaru. Ones that she went back for and prayed that she wouldn't have to use on anyone she knew. She should have also prayed that she wouldn't have to end a child's life with it either.

She fingered the weapon for a moment. Her palm cooling under the metal of the blade. She needed to get this done. The sun was already beginning to set and she had told Yamato she would be back quickly. She also couldn't just leave the child in misery.

Taking a deep breath she reached for the hand of the little one, their skin was almost as cool as the blade in her other hand, and roughly pulled them out. The child's movements were lethargic as they slowly snapped their jaws in her direction. Once she had pulled the child out to expose the top of the shoulders she let go of the small hand. Taking another deep breath she swiftly moved her blade and lodged it into the base of their skull. The cracking of bones against metal felt as it filled the air. Immediately the small body in front of her laxed and their head fell to the ground. Wide milky eyes still staring up at mind kept playing that sickening sound over and over again.

She froze in that position for a few moments. She couldn't will herself to move, she couldn't make herself look away from them. Then suddenly bile shot up her throat as if it was a volcano erupting. She quickly turned her body and emptied her stomach onto the forest floor.

She dry heaved a number of times. He stomach and shoulders began to ache from the violent movement. Once her stomach stopped clenching she sat there panting before she looked back to her work. Oh, gods. She had just killed a child. Their lifeless eyes stared at her and she could feel the sting in her eyes building. No tears followed, though. Nothing at all. She couldn't shed them. Never in her life had she wished for the watery release, but she wanted it now. She wanted to cry for them. She wanted to be someone that mourned their young life. She wanted to also mourn over the fact that she had taken a life that was so young. They just wouldn't fall.

She stayed there looking at the body for longer than she had though. When she had finally tore her eyes off of them the sky was a dark blue and she could see that the moon had begun its rise. She shook herself out, gathering the rest of the mushroom and placing them in her pack. She looked once more at the young face, biting her inner cheek as she did so and turned to make her way back towards camp.

"You were gone longer than I expected," Yamato grunted as she walked into the open area. He already had a fire going and on top was a small pot of something boiling. More than likely it was a dried ration pack. They were normally bland and had little aroma when cooking. She frowned as she placed her pack down and pulled out the mushrooms.

"Here, put these in whatever it is you are cooking," she said as she tossed him the caps which he easily caught. She then looked to Sai who was still sleeping where she had placed him. "We need to make sure that we have a good perimeter," she said as she ran her hand through her hair. "I came across a reaper while I was out," she said flatly. Yamato who had been busying himself with adding the fungus to the food stilled and tensed. He looked up and looked at her warily.

"Are you okay?" He asked cautiously. She bit down on her cheek again. She was getting tired of being asked that. But, she knew that she was being sensitive. Hell, if Yamato had left camp and said that he had run across one, she would be asking the same thing.

"Fine," she said with a sigh. "It really wasn't much of a threat..." Her brow furrowed as she thought of the little face. "They were a child. Tiny," her voice shook a bit as she looked down to the ground. She let herself focus on her sandal and the fact that her nails were encrusted in dirt.

"Oh... I am sorry," he murmured. She didn't look up. She didn't want to see what was on his face. She shrugged before she turned her attention to Sai and began to check on him.

"Eat the mushrooms," Sakura growled as she brought the cup of soup up to her mouth and glared at Sai. He lazily looked over to her. No emotion on his face.

"I don't like mushrooms," he replied flatly. She could feel her eye twitch as he looked at her.

"I don't care if you don't like them or not, they will help you heal," she hissed. "So eat the damn mushrooms." They sat there and looked at each other for a long moment. Sai still blank face and cold eyes while Sakura was glaring heatedly at him. She didn't care if he was angry or hated her, but he had to do what she said medically.

"Sai," Yamato breathed. Sakura watched as Sai lazily rolled his eyes to look at their senpai. "Please, just eat it." Sakura looked at the man who was looking at Sai tiredly. Then her eye was drawn back to the black haired boy. There was a tiny flicker of movement in his jaw as he looked over. He then sighed and brought the cup to his mouth and once he lowered it she saw him chewing. Sakura clenched her jaw as she watched him. Her whole body was vibrating and all she wanted to do was stomp over there and thwack his head. She didn't though. She just continued to glare at him as he ate his portion.

They had been walking for nearly a week and a half and had yet to run into any more reapers. Sakura had hoped because it was that there weren't many. That the infection didn't spread as quickly as she, and Tsunade, had feared. Though, the reports that she had in her bag said differently. Each night after they had eaten and she was on watch she would sit closely to the fire and go over the reports. She forced herself to. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be much in them.

The files that Tsunade gave to her went over the stages of infection. Which advanced just how the Hokage had explained. The patient would complain of something that was similar to the flu, then the deterioration began, and finally, they were consumed. Her mentor had tried several different methods of treatment. The first fail was using chakra. That just ended up accelerating the spread. Then there were some medications that were tried after that. Nothing worked. Sakura knew it was because it was latching onto the chakra system and feeding itself that way. For the most part, it would leave the body intact, besides the brain swelling nothing else was affected. All systems functioned regularly and showed no sign of compromise. Near the end of the report, Tsunade wrote that she was trying to use Hyuga clan techniques as a method to slow it. She didn't know how that worked though, as it seemed that Tsunade didn't finish with tests.

So nothing. She had information, but it was still nothing on this virus. How it evolved or who made it, because the more she thought about it the more she came to the conclusion that it had to have been crafted. Some sick fuck made this and released it. Nothing else could explain it. The reason that nothing worked on it. Well, the only thing that she did know was amputation was a viable option. As Sai wasn't infected. But there had to be another way. There just had to.

Their pace was slow as they reached the sand planes. It would take a full night to cross to reach Suna. They didn't want to attempt the trek during the day as the sun was becoming unbearably hot. So that day the stayed in the forest that edged the great desert and napped in shifts until the sun had finally set.

Sakura hated sand. It was a pain in the ass to walk in, it was messy, and got into everything. She didn't understand why people wanted to live out here. She muttered to herself as she dragged Sai behind her as the wind began to pick up. Fucking great. If this shit turned into a sand storm she was going to scream. She squinted her eyes as the particles passed in front of her face and trudged along. That was until her sandal hit something. Frowning and still squinting she looked down to see an edge of a foot being uncovered by the wind.

She almost dropped Sai, but at the last moment, her grip became tighter on the poles. She followed the foot to the leg it was attached to, then to the small dune that was the body. Her eyes traveled up to see that there was a head coming out of the sand. She frowned as she saw the forehead protector.

"Yamato," She called over the wind. She looked up to see him a few feet in front of her. "I need you to take Sai." She yelled. Squinting he looked back at her before he quickly came back. "Don't step on the body," she warned. His eyes went wide for a second before he looked down and nodded to her. He quickly took the travois from her. She sighed as she bent slowly down and touched her finger to the man's wrist.

Cold and no pulse. She grimaced as she looked up to his face. He was mostly covered in sand, the only featured that could still be made out well were his forehead, closed eyes, nose, and half of his upper cheek. Reaching out she gently pulled the eyelid back. Once more she looked into milky eyes. She straightened herself quickly as she turned to her team.

"Let's go, he was a reaper," She said as she walked around his body. She prayed that it was the last she would see. Her prayers never seem to get answered though.

The desert was littered with bodies. Reapers and non-infected alike. With each new discovery, Sakura's stomach twisted. What if Suna had fallen? She didn't vocalize the thought. No, she just kept pressing through as the wind that beat sand against her face. She was sure Yamato and Sai were thinking the same, but they also didn't speak.

After hours they reached the small passage that lead into the hidden village. Sakura released a breath that she didn't realize she was holding as they walked through it. Relief washed over her as they had finally made their way in. That relief didn't last long. As they walked through the passage what she noticed was total silence. Even for this time at night, it was too quiet for any village. She swallowed thickly as she walked. No, she wouldn't think about that.

It didn't matter what she thought, though. Because once the mouth of the passage opened she saw it. Suna was in ruins.


End file.
